Homes and businesses in Dispatch area to benefit from Government flood investment

The Government has outlined plans to invest £5.2 billion into flood prevention in the UK over the next six years.

More than £860 million will be spent in 2021-22 boosting design and construction of more than 1,000 schemes across England as part of the Environment Agency’s annual capital programme.

One of the flood defence schemes to benefit will be Blue Green Infrastructure Phase 2 on the River Leen in Bulwell, which will receive £200,000 from the Government in the next year and more than £700,000 overall in the next five years.

It is all part of the new Flood and Coastal Erosion Investment Plan, which sets out how new flood and coastal schemes will better protect 336,000 properties by 2027, helping to avoid £32 billion in wider economic damages and reducing the national flood risk by up to 11 per cent.

This follows the Environment Agency’s successful delivery of the Government’s previous £2.6 billion investment between 2015 and 2021, better protecting more than 314,000 homes.

The funding will be accompanied by a consultation in the autumn, where the Government will look at how to better protect frequently flooded communities, following a call for evidence earlier this year.

It will consider how to strengthen the assessment of local circumstances, such as where areas have flooded on multiple occasions, when allocating funding during the six-year plan.

The Government will bring in tighter guidance for planning authorities as part of a package of actions to better protect and prepare communities for flooding.

Householders will benefit from changes to the Flood Re Scheme that will allow insurers to pay an additional amount for the installation of property flood resilience measures after a flood - like air brick covers, flood doors and flood resistant plasterboard.

Measures to tackle the risks from surface water flooding are also included in the plans.

George Eustace MP, environment secretary, said: “We are standing by communities and will bolster defences against flooding across England with many thousands more properties better protected by 2027.

“It’s important we take action right across the system.

"Our comprehensive plan will achieve this by tightening planning procedures, helping more people access insurance and making homes more resilient to the effects of flooding.”

Emma Howard-Boyd, chairman of the Environment Agency, said: ““These schemes should provide reassurance to communities and businesses, but no-one should have a false sense of security.

"I strongly urge people to sign up for flood warnings and regularly check flood risk online here.”

Robert Jenrick MP, communities secretary, commented: “Flooding has a devastating impact on people’s lives and that’s why we’re strengthening our guidance to ensure the measures are in place to protect our homes and businesses from the risk of flooding.

“Our planning reforms will ensure that communities across the country know that future developments will be safe from floods.

“This new guidance will help local communities become more flood resilient by providing local authorities with the right tools to consider how flood risk can be prevented when planning for new homes.”