Wales to Invest £32m in Flood Risk Reduction

The Welsh government is to invest £32m in capital funding to reduce flood risk to more than 2000 homes and businesses across Wales.

The funding, allocated for 2017-18, is the  country's largest capital budget for flood risk management in recent years.

Making the announcement, Wales' cabinet secretary for environment and rural affairs, Lesley Griffiths, also confirmed £144m capital funding for flood risk management, in addition to the £150m coastal programme, over the five year government term. Of this, £5m will support design and development work for coastal risk management projects.

Griffiths also announced that £1m of the flood budget will be ring-fenced each year for the next four years to support smaller scale works and maintenance to be carried out by local authorities.

This follows the successful trail of a grant scheme to support smaller works, which provided funding for 73 projects to reduce risk to 700 properties across Wales.

To ensure funding goes to areas most at risk, future flood programmes will be prioritiesd by making use of the Communities at Risk Register.