Communities suffering from repeated flooding in recent years to be better protected through a new £100 million allowance Funding will be targeted at communities where 10 or more properties have flooded twice or more in the last 10 years This year £700 million will also be invested into protecting homes
With heavy rainfall still predicted and water levels high following recent storms in many parts of the UK, safety expert Arco is sharing expert guidance on cleaning and sanitising after a flood. Recovery can be a lengthy and distressing experience for individuals and communities and Arco is supporting flood victims
Coastal flood risk in Lincolnshire is due to be managed by a £7 million Beach Management scheme, which will benefit around 20,000 homes and businesses. The Environment Agency scheme will see contractors pump around 400,000 cubic metres of sand onto Lincolnshire’s beaches to help protect people and their properties from
The proposed £112.1 million phase two of the Leeds Flood Alleviation Scheme is due to be completed with the help of a two-step solution. Phase one of the scheme is already in place, offering protection for the city centre and Woodlesford. Meanwhile, phase two offers a range of complementary measures
BDC 319 : Aug 2024
Communities suffering from repeated flooding in recent years to be better protected through a new £100 million allowance Funding will be targeted at communities where 10 or more properties have flooded twice or more in the last 10 years This year £700 million will also be invested into protecting homes from the Government’s record £5.2 billion investment from 2021 to 2027 Communities suffering repeated flooding will benefit from a new ring-fenced £100 million allowance designed to better protect their properties, the Government has announced today. The £100 million Frequently Flooded Allowance will improve access to public funding for these communities, which are often smaller areas requiring more complex flood schemes, meaning that community-wide defences are not always viable. The funding will be targeted at eligible communities where 10 or more properties have flooded twice or more in the last 10 years, helping to both accelerate existing projects and deliver new ones. It is anticipated around 80 schemes will receive support over the next four years. This allowance will be part of the Government’s current programme of investment in flood and coastal defences. The Government announced in 2020 that the amount invested in flood and coastal erosion schemes would be doubled in England to £5.2 billion between 2021 and 2027, providing around 2,000 flood defences. This year, £700 million is being invested from that pot and will better protect 35,000 properties, bringing the cumulative total for the first two years of the six-year programme to more than 65,000. Environment Secretary George Eustice said: “Flooding is a miserable experience, especially for people who suffer its impacts time and again, and I feel we have a moral imperative to help. “Our new Frequently Flooded Allowance will boost schemes in areas which are hit repeatedly and reduce the risk of flooding in the future. “This new allowance will provide extra support for these areas and forms part of our major £5.2 billion effort to build around 2,000 flood schemes by 2027 and level-up defences across the country.” Sir James Bevan, Chief Executive of the Environment Agency, said: “The impacts of climate change are becoming all too familiar both at home and around the world. “While we cannot prevent all flooding, this allowance will help better protect homes and businesses at risk from repeated incidents. “The Environment Agency has a successful track record in delivering flood and coastal defence schemes across the country, having better protected more than 314,000 homes from flooding since 2015.” Communities will be selected through the Environment Agency’s annual refresh of the £5.2 billion capital programme – which sets out the latest information on each project in the programme and the amount of grant-in-aid allocated to that project in that year. The latest investment builds on 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, exceeding its original target. Thanks to a £2.6 billion investment, more than 850 new flood and coastal erosion defence projects were completed during this period. Over 580,000 acres of agricultural land, as well as thousands of businesses, communities and major infrastructure – including more than 8,000 kilometres of roads – also benefited from improvement schemes. Our flood defences recently protected around 50,000 properties from flooding during Storms Dudley, Eunice and Franklin, and schemes delivered in the last year are already helping to provide better protection for thousands of properties across England. Today’s announcement is another step to delivering on the ambitions of the government’s flood and coastal erosion risk management policy statement and the Environment Agency’s National Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategy, which set out a vision and set of comprehensive actions to ensure that our country is more resilient to flooding and coastal erosion and climate change in the long term.
With heavy rainfall still predicted and water levels high following recent storms in many parts of the UK, safety expert Arco is sharing expert guidance on cleaning and sanitising after a flood. Recovery can be a lengthy and distressing experience for individuals and communities and Arco is supporting flood victims and those involved in the clear up operation, through a comprehensive flooding resource, which advises on how to clean up effectively and safely. The impact of flooding can be devastating, not just because those affected experience the trauma of the event, but also the damage to the property, its contents and the effect on safety and hygiene standards. Flooding may also put employees at risk and stop work in its tracks, affecting productivity and livelihoods, so the clear up operation is critical. When it is safe to return to the premises, the first action should be to assess all potential hazards. Hygiene should be prioritised as many health risks can arise, for example when waste water and flood water mix. For those working on the clear up, personal protection is crucial, not only to prevent infection from contaminated flood water but to help prevent other accidents such as slips and trips, ensuring the work is completely quickly and safely. As a core funder to the National Emergencies Trust, Arco is proud to help the NET which is supporting the local flood response teams in addition to its flooding support resource. The aftermath of a flood can be overwhelming, so Arco has written a downloadable Expert Guide which advises on the best course of action. To download the guide, and view Arco’s product recommendations for flood prevention and clean-up, visit: https://www.arco.co.uk/expert_advice_flood_planning
Coastal flood risk in Lincolnshire is due to be managed by a £7 million Beach Management scheme, which will benefit around 20,000 homes and businesses. The Environment Agency scheme will see contractors pump around 400,000 cubic metres of sand onto Lincolnshire’s beaches to help protect people and their properties from coastal flood risk by preventing damage to the sea defences along the coast and reducing the risk of overtopping. “Our Lincolnshire Beach Management scheme helps us protect thousands of homes and businesses on the Lincolnshire coast. The scheme also offers real value to Lincolnshire’s coastal tourism economy, by maintaining the sandy beaches that are so well-loved by residents and visitors alike,” said Mark Robinson, senior flood risk advisor for the Environment Agency. As well as local homes and businesses, the Lincolnshire Beach Management (LBM) scheme will also protect 24,500 static caravans and 35,000 hectares of land. “While our annual beach nourishment works continue to be very effective, our long-term estimates suggest that it will not be sustainable to continue with just sand as a method of flood risk management in the future due to the impact of climate change,” added Mark. “This is why we have worked over a number of years to review our strategy for coastal flood risk management between Saltfleet and Gibraltar Point. We took a shortlist of options to public consultation in early 2019 and are currently finalising our new draft strategy for coastal flood risk management over the next 100 years, which we will be taking forward to consultation later this year.” Work will begin on the project on Monday 13 May and run for six weeks. Beaches at Trusthorpe, Mablethorpe, Ingoldmells, Trunch Lane, Wolla Bank, Chapel Six Marshes and Huttoft will be replenished during the programme.
The proposed £112.1 million phase two of the Leeds Flood Alleviation Scheme is due to be completed with the help of a two-step solution. Phase one of the scheme is already in place, offering protection for the city centre and Woodlesford. Meanwhile, phase two offers a range of complementary measures to protect the Kirkstall Corridor which was badly hit by Storm Eva in 2015. It includes further measures up to and including the upper catchment of the River Aire. The government confirmed its contribution figure of £65 million, with Leeds City Council planning to proceed with a planning application and tenders to be presented shortly to deliver the scheme in full. It will be carried out in two parts, and will get underway shortly. Works to deliver an initial one-in-100-year level of protection will begin next year, which will then be upgraded to the full one-in-200-year level with a further phase of work after the remainder of the funding has been secured. “The Environment Agency wants to deliver the best possible flood scheme for Leeds and is working closely with Leeds City Council to make the most effective use of the funding available to us whilst exploring further options. We worked closely with the council on the first phase of the city’s Flood Alleviation Scheme, which cost £50 million and protects 3,000 homes, 500 business and 300 acres of development land,” commented Adrian Gill, flood risk manager at the Environment Agency. “Our officers have been working hard within the joint team alongside colleagues from Leeds City Council since Boxing Day 2015 and we support the two-step solution outlined by Councillor Blake. This will enable the level of protection provided to the city centre to be extended at pace to the Kirkstall Road area, whilst we continue to strive towards our ambition of providing a 1-in-200-year level of protection from the River Aire for the whole city,” Adrian concluded.
