Flood Risk & Drainage
www.managingwater.co.uk
Flood funding cuts after the election could jeopardise targets – CIWEM report
The level of funding directed at flood risk management has become something of a political football with politicians claiming bragging rights over which government has spent more. However complex funding structures and extensive administrative changes since 2011 make direct comparison misleading.
CIWEM has carried out a report which focusses on how effectively available funding is being delivered and whether the current government's investment plans and ambition match the latest evidence on what measures need to be taken to combat future flood risk and flooding caused by climate change.
The key findings of the report are as follows: Funding cuts:
Following the General Election, any cuts to flood funding could immediately put targets in jeopardy. Long term plans are also reliant on additional efficiency savings being made and partnership funding to supplement central government funds. The partnership approach is still in its infancy and should be monitored closely to ensure that it is growing in line with Defra's ambition. Short-termism:
The short-term approach currently taken to funding maintenance of existing flood defences does not optimise their long term cost-effectiveness. While budgets for new and improved defences and have recently been confirmed over a six year period, maintenance and support budgets have yet to be granted the same certainty and may suffer as a result. CIWEM believes maintenance should receive the same priority.
Poor planning control:
Development control continues to allow inappropriate development in the floodplain which risks increasing the future funding burden of flood risk management. Currently, the Environment Agency only comments on developments of ten or more buildings. A large number of smaller developments pass through planning without Environment Agency scrutiny. It is essential that where any development, large or small, does take place local planning authorities demand effective mitigation and resilience measures.
Lead Local Flood Authorities should ensure that local flood risk management strategies, required to be produced since 2011 but still extensively absent, are completed as quickly as possible to achieve this and secure future funding.
Insurance inadequacies: flood Re, the government supported reinsurance scheme which begins in 2015 will provide welcome support for flood prone residents over the next 25 years. However as it is currently formulated it is not cost effective and does not help people to implement property level protection so that their homes are insurable when the scheme ends. "The UK has one of the most forward thinking and internationally regarded approaches to managing flood risk in the world. It is important that whoever forms the government after the general election confirms their commitment to funding both capital and maintenance costs at a level and on timescales which enable the benefits of this approach to be realised." CIWEM's Chief Executive, Dr Simon Festing
The full report is avaliable here.
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