The Environment Agency has launched its new Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategy for England setting outs plans to improve the country’s resilience to flooding and coastal change.

The Strategy sets out the long-term delivery objectives the nation should take over the next 10 to 30 years as well as shorter term, practical measures risk management authorities should take working with partners and communities.

The strategy comes at the same time as the government announced details of the £5.2 billion that will be spent between 2021 and 2027 on flood protection, alongside a further £200 million for resilience measures in 25 areas, as well as reforms to the Flood Re insurance programme. The Government has also announced a further £170m to accelerate flood defence construction in 2020 or 2021.

With more extreme weather expected, including 59% more rainfall by 2050 and summer temperatures up to 7.4˚C hotter, the new plan is aimed at better protecting and preparing millions of homes and businesses from the risk of flooding that the climate change will bring in the future.

More than 5.2 million properties in England are already at risk, and climate change will lead to even more people being affected.

The measures include:

• Expanded flood warnings by 2022 to all at risk properties, with 62,000 more families to be added to the service
• Increased investment in natural flood management schemes to better protect communities, tackle climate change and create new wildlife habitats
• Further promote the use of property flood resilience measures to help homeowners and businesses build back better and recover quicker after flooding
• More collaborative partnerships with national road, rail and utilities providers to ensure their investments are flood resilient and benefit the public

Environment Agency Chair, Emma Howard Boyd said:

“This year we had major flooding and the sunniest spring on record in rapid succession. We know climate change is going to bounce us between these extremes more and more in the coming years, but communities wouldn’t want us to hermetically seal them off from the weather even if we could. This strategy will help answer local concerns, prepare the nation for future shocks and enable greater international leadership at COP26 by showing we can walk the walk at home.

“The clean, green recovery of the economy from coronavirus must have nature at its heart. This is a blueprint for using the natural world to build back better so that homes, businesses and infrastructure are more resilient.”

Environment Secretary George Eustice commented:

“We know that climate change is making the UK warmer and wetter, and we will be visited by extreme weather more frequently in the future.

“This ambitious strategy sets out how we can become more resilient to flooding and coastal erosion by continuing to build and maintain our flood defences while also increasing investment in nature-based solutions.

“It ensures ideas like reconnecting rivers with their natural floodplain or creating new areas where water can be stored and used in times of drought will become mainstream flood protection policies in the years to come.”

The strategy sets out a series of natural flood management schemes that will not only reduce the risks to local communities, but also tackle climate change through carbon sequestration and new habitats for wildlife, including:

• Reconnecting rivers with their natural floodplain and restoring bends, recognising the role of soils in reducing rapid run-off, or creating new areas where water can be stored
• Planting more trees and restoring peatland, helping to slow the run-off of water into rivers, while also creating important natural habitats and taking carbon out of the atmosphere.
• In urban areas, using green infrastructure such as restored habitats and sustainable drainage systems to reduce flood risk and provide local people with more green spaces
• In coastal areas, creating wetlands and saltmarshes, and using beach nourishment to manage erosion and provide habitats for wildlife.

Baroness Brown, Chair of the Adaptation Committee of the Committee on Climate Change (CCC), commented:

“We strongly welcome this Strategy. Our own analysis shows that ambitious adaptation action is needed alongside global net-zero emissions to avoid a very significant increase in damage, from river, coastal and surface water flooding across England.

“Investing in flood defences is critical, but will not address the challenges of climate change on its own. If implemented in full, the strategy is a big step forward in managing flood risk in our changing climate. We look forward to evaluating progress in due course.”

According to Nigel Riglar President of the Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning and Transport (ADEPT, local authorities have a fundamental role to play in achieving these ambitions. “They need to both lead and influence, enable a low carbon area through programmes, policies and decisions, and inspire businesses and communities to take climate action themselves,” he said, “We look forward to continuing to work in partnership to make critical investments in our communities and infrastructure at the right points in time.”

Further key points in the strategy include:

5:1 benefit-cost ratio - Every £1 spent on protecting communities avoids around £5 of property damages. The strategy sets out in more detail the strong economic, social and environmental benefits from investing in our resilience to future flooding and coastal change.

Resilience - From 2021 risk management authorities will work with the finance sector, Flood Re and industry to increase the uptake of property flood resilience measures in communities at highest risk and to ‘build back better’ after flooding.

Education – By 2025, risk management authorities and other organisations will work with education providers to encourage opportunities for ongoing learning and career development in engineering and environmental sciences so that we have a diverse range of skills and experience able to respond to flooding.

Click here to download the EA Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategy