£5bn flood protection
Thousands of homes and businesses are expected to be better protected from flooding and coastal erosion as a result of a £5.2bn government investment.
A total of £860m will be spent in 2021-2022 to boost design and construction of more than 1,000 schemes across England as part of the Environment Agency’s annual capital programme.
The money and the programme are part of the Flood and Coastal Erosion Investment Plan, published by the government. It sets out how new flood and coastal schemes are aimed at providing better flood protection for 336,000 properties by 2027. This, the government says, will help to avoid £32bn in wider economic damage.
The investment plan comes after the Environment Agency delivered a government investment of £2.6bn between 2015 and 2021 in protecting 314,000 homes from flooding.
Germany and Belgium have experienced heavy floods, while the UK State of the Climate report warns the UK is already undergoing changes to the climate, such as increased rainfall.
