Managing Flood and Coastal Risks in England: 1st April 2015 to 31st March 2016 Report

Monday, December 12, 2016

This is the fifth annual report on flood and coastal erosion risk management (FCERM) in England, and fulfils our duty to report under Section 18 of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 and the national FCERM strategy.

As in previous years, the report includes information on our assessment of the scale of flood and coastal erosion risk in England; investment in new schemes and asset maintenance, including investment by other risk management authorities such as water companies, internal drainage boards and Highways England; partnership funding; efficiency savings; development control; strategic planning; skills and R&D. Some key findings of the report include:

  • Partnership funding contributions towards flood and coastal erosion risk management projects now totals £190 million since April 2011. These contributions are key to ensuring that more schemes are completed than would be the case under government funding alone.
  • A total of 173 flood and coastal erosion risk management schemes were completed during the report period. This reduced flood risk to almost 49,000 homes and coastal erosion risk to over 5,500 homes. Risk management authorities are on track to complete schemes that will reduce flood and coastal erosion risk to 300,000 homes by March 2021.
  • The Environment Agency’s recovery programme of repairs following last winter’s floods will bring defences affected up to at least their pre-flood condition, contributing to achieving the corporate target of 97% of assets at or above target condition by April 2017.
  •  Capital works completed during the year improved protection to around 75,000 hectares of agricultural land, around 43,000 hectares of which were classified as grade 1 or 2. Over 150 kilometres of railway and around 1,845 kilometres of primary roads were also provided with improved protection.
  • Risk management authorities have, through flood and coastal erosion risk management schemes, created or improved 514 hectares of water dependant habitat, 179 hectares of intertidal habitat and 21 kilometres of protected river habitat.
  • By 31 March 2016, 75% of the 152 lead local flood authorities (LLFAs) reported that they had completed and published their local flood risk management strategies, compared with 39% at the same time last year. The LLFAs who had yet to complete their strategies are listed in the report, as was done last year.

The full report can be found on GOV.UK here

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