One year on from last winter’s floods which devastated the North of England, hundreds of homes are still awaiting repair, while hundreds of farmers in the worst affected areas are still waiting to receive emergency funding to restore agricultural land.

Over 17,000 homes and businesses were flooded in December 2015; the wettest month ever recorded in the UK. Storms brought record rainfall and river flows, affecting Cumbria, Lancashire, the north east and Yorkshire.

While Environment Agency flood defences protected over 12,500 properties during Storm Desmond and 10,900 during Storms Eva and Frank, many others succumbed to the flood waters.

Since then the Environment Agency, along with communities, government departments and partners, has been working to ensure better protection against future flooding.

In the March 2015 budget, the government announced an additional £700 million to protect communities across the country. Some of this money is being used in areas affected last winter, including Yorkshire and Cumbria.

In September 2016, the National Flood Resilience Review awarded a further £12.5 million to the Environment Agency and £750,000 to the Fire and Rescue Services to be spent on preparing the country for extreme flooding events. The Environment Agency now has 5 times more temporary flood barriers than last winter.

NFU -  Government’s strategy to manage future flood risk must be to plan, protect and pay

According to the National Farmers Union, which was instrumental in establishing the Farming Recovery Fund to which around 1,100 applications have been made to date totaling over £9 million, many farmers are still awaiting funding. The fund covers activities such as drain and boundary repairs and reseeding.

NFU Deputy President Minette Batters said it was extremely frustrating that hundreds of farmers in England were bracing themselves for another winter while still waiting for emergency funding to help recover from the previous one, commenting:

“Storm Desmond and the subsequent flooding brought devastation to farming businesses and many are still feeling the effects. Farmers have faced months of uncertainty over access to the flood recovery fund, piled on top of delays to their annual farm payments. This is totally unacceptable and must be resolved as a matter of urgency.”

 “A review is urgently needed to improve the process for when this fund is inevitably needed again. Early next year, the NFU will be launching its flooding manifesto. This will set out clear our policy asks and action for government and others to mitigate flood risk in the future.”

The NFU believes a whole catchment approach to flood management must be adopted. However, the NFU said that while natural flood management schemes do have a place, they are not a universal solution and must be used alongside a package of measures across the catchment to improve flood resilience to both urban and rural communities, including traditional hard-engineered structures and their maintenance.

Minette Batters continued:

“To improve resilience across the country, two things are crucial - accurate modelling and suitable funding. Flood models must be continually updated to account for the extreme weather events which are becoming all too regular.”

“Capital and maintenance budgets for flood risk management must also be reviewed. As we increase the number of assets improving the resilience of rural and urban areas to flooding, maintenance budgets have to be increased to cope with the demands placed on the pot of money.  In short, the government’s strategy to manage future flood risk must be to plan, protect and pay.”

Waterbriefing is media partner with the Environment Agency’s major three-day conference and exhibition Flood and Coast 2017 which takes place from 28 to 30 March 2017 in Telford. Click here for more information