The Environment Agency (EA) is facing increasing pressure to boost long-term funding for flood protection as it struggles to maintain England's flood and coastal defenses. The agency's recent annual report reveals a concerning trend of falling below target maintenance levels for high-risk assets, putting communities at greater risk of flooding.
Ministers are facing pressure to boost long-term funding for flood protection. The Environment Agency (EA) is failing to meet its targets for maintaining England’s flood and coastal defences, according to the agency’s most recent annual report. In 2023-24, 7.4 per cent of England’s “high-risk assets” fell below their target condition, which the EA admitted had led to “an increased risk of asset failure and flood risk which is likely to persist”.
The EA is responsible for maintaining around 76,000 flood assets in England, including things like embankments, pumping stations and flood gates. Of these, 38,000 are considered to be ‘high-risk’. These are thing like flood storage reservoirs and tidal barriers that protect a large number of properties. Around 6.3 million properties in England are currently at risk of flooding, however this is expected to increase to eight million – or one in four – by 2050, a recent report by the EA found. Climate change is the main driver behind the growing flood threat – a warmer atmosphere holds more moisture, resulting in more extreme rainfall. Extreme weather events have caused damage to thousands of properties and resulted in some communities being forced out of their homes for months at a time. But experts and MPs say the EA has faced a number of challenges that have hindered its ability to maintain England’s flood infrastructure, including funding cuts, high inflation and difficulties recruiting skilled engineers due to Civil Service pay bands. While most agreed the UK has some of the most advanced flood forecasting capabilities in the world, they said infrastructure failures could risk overwhelming towns and cities
FLOODING ENVIRONMENT AGENCY CLIMATE CHANGE FUNDING INFRASTRUCTURE
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