The Government has defended its record on flood defence spending after claims ministers were warned ongoing cuts could put hundreds of thousands of extra homes at risk.
According to The Observer experts from the Association of Drainage Authorities (ADA), whose members include the Environment Agency and local authorities, warned ministers last November of the dangers of cuts to flood defences and local authority funding.
The newspaper reports that a leaked document from the experts said: ‘We have had the five wettest years since 2000. The Environment Agency’s funding for maintaining flood assets has fallen by 14%. Downward adjustments have also been made to intended revenue spending commitments.
Flooding is still a danger across parts of the UK
‘Failure of assets and networks is more likely as extreme weather events become more frequent and unpredictable. We must change our approach to managing water level management assets and systems … adopting a more long-term approach.’
It then went on to warn that many more homes were being put at risk.
‘Annual flood and storm damage costs are approximately £1.1bn, according to the Association of British Insurers, and those households at significant risk [of flood damage] through a reduction in our capacity to manage water levels could increase from 330,000 today to 570,000 in 2035.’
It added that a 10-60% increase in extreme rainfall could lead to a quadrupling of flooding in urban areas.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said the claims were ‘simply not true’ as the document was outdated.
A spokeswoman said: ‘These claims are simply not true. This document was written before last autumn's Spending Review, in which we increased flood defence spending to £2.3 billion by 2021.
‘We're spending more on flood defences in this parliament than in the last, by building 1,500 new flood defence schemes that will better protect 300,000 more homes, which itself is more than was spent in the parliament before that.’
The news comes as prime minister David Cameron announced a further package of more than £40m to rebuild and improve flood defences in the aftermath of the recent Storm Eva.
He also pledged the Government would support charities helping those caught up in the Boxing Day deluge by matching every pound of the first £2m raised.
Of the new funding package £10m is reserved to improve the Foss Barrier protecting York, which was overwhelmed at the height of Storm Eva. The other £30m will be spent repairing defences on the Wharfe, Calder, Aire, Ouse and Derwent, including repairs to pumping and barriers and clearing blockages in rivers.
The cash takes investment in recovery from Storm Eva and Storm Desmond to nearly £200m, following communities secretary Greg Clark announcing an extra £50m last week to help local authorities support households and businesses affected by the weekend’s devastating floods in Northern England.
