The National Audit Office is warning that 200,000 properties are at increased flood risk due toEnvironment Agency defence assets being below required condition - and the EA has cut its forecast for the number of additional properties that will be better protected from flooding by 40% since plans were first unveiled in 2020.

The Environment Agency has awarded a MEICA maintenance framework contract for its flood defence assets worth an estimated £87.422 million in total.

The Environment Agency is facing ongoing resource shortages and supply chain issues, according to its Annual Report and Accounts 2022 to 2023 published this week.

Environment Minister Thérèse Coffey has said that the recent floods caused by Storm Babet were exacerbated by the impacts of rain coming from the opposite direction.

The Environment Agency (EA) has launched a pre-market engagement exercise with the supply chain on a wide-ranging asset operation, maintenance, response and landscape framework worth an estimated £540 million-plus.

The Environment Agency has gone out to tender with a framework contract for MEICA Maintenance & EICR services  for its flood defence assets worth an estimated £85 million.

The Environment Agency is seeking views on protecting London and the Essex and Kent coasts that border the River Thames to shape the response to increased flood threat as climate change threatens to create higher sea levels.

Inspections found that more than 3,400 crucial flood defence assets across England were in poor condition last year, according to figures seen by Unearthed, the investigative arm of leading environmental organisation Greenpeace.