Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The government is bringing forward more than 16 million of the six-year flood defence programme announced in December to better protect more than 750 homes from flooding sooner than planned in the East of England.
8 brand new schemes have been given the green light as part of the long-term investment programme and work will start on another 5 flood defence projects earlier than previously announced.
Environment Secretary Elizabeth Truss said:
What todays announcement means is greater peace of mind for hundreds of people who are at risk from flooding across the East of England.
Work will begin on 5 flood defence projects sooner than originally planned. This is another example of infrastructure funded by the UK Government as part of our long-term economic plan.
Key projects across East of England include:
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Money to start development work on Phase 2 of the Great Yarmouth Flood Alleviation Scheme has been brought forward by one year to 2016/17.
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A property level protection scheme for communities around the Great Ouse has been brought into the 6 year programme and will help better protect around 80 homes from flooding.
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The Fenstanton Risk Management project is a new scheme brought into the 6 year programme. It is in the pipeline to investigate options to address river flooding from the Great Ouse. The work will assess and address flood risk to approximately 100 properties at risk.
The government is bringing forward more than 140 million of the 2.3 billion six-year flood defence programme announced in December to better protect more than 31,000 homes and businesses from flooding sooner than planned.
47 brand new schemes have been given the green light as part of the long-term investment programme and work will start on another 165 flood defence projects earlier than previously announced.
The 6 year programme represents a real terms increase in expenditure and will reduce flood risk across the country by 5%.
230,000 homes have been better protected from the risk of flooding and coastal erosion so far this Parliament.
Environment Agency Chairman Sir Philip Dilley said:
This programme of more than 1,500 flood risk management schemes will significantly reduce flood risk to more than 300,000 properties in England by 2021, benefiting people, the economy and the environment. Government funding has also been brought forward meaning that over 30,000 properties will benefit from reduced flood risk earlier than originally planned.
Our priority is to do as much as we can with every pound of funding from government and local partners, but of course the risk of flooding can never be entirely eliminated. With one in six homes in England at risk of flooding, I encourage people to check their flood risk and sign up to the Environment Agencys free flood warning service.
Notes to Editors
Please visit here for further information on the schemes.
Picture caption:
Constructing Barrowfield flood wall in Edmonton. The Environment Agency is building a 15.3 million flood alleviation scheme to reduce the risk of flooding from Salmons Brook. This multi-site scheme will protect almost 1,400 properties and is due to be completed later in 2015.