The Environment Agency has outlined its proposals to protect London from flooding for the next century, underlining the need for a new barrier post-2070.
The agency’s six-year investigation into the future of flood-risk management within the Thames estuary highlighted the work required to manage tidal flood risk as a result of climate change.
A three-month consultation on the Thames Estuary Plan (TE2100) has recommended maintaining and upgrading the current flood-defence system through to 2070, which means it will last 40 years longer than first anticipated when it was designed in the 1970s.
The agency suggests a new barrier will then need to be built, but a decision on this would not be necessary until the middle of the century, due to the protection afforded by the existing 300-plus kilometres of estuary defences already in place. Dr Paul Leinster, chief executive of the agency, said: ‘This plan has looked at the worst-case scenario for climate change. If, over time, sea levels are found to be rising faster then expected, then we are already prepared and have identified the necessary solutions.’
The TE2100 proposes that planned improvements to the current system are maintained over the course of the next 25 years, and that sea level rises and climate change are monitored in order to review the plan if necessary. It also calls for effective flood-plain management to be in place across the estuary, and for the safeguarding of areas for future defence changes.
Between 2035 and 2070, the upgrading and replacement work will take place, and then a final decision will be made on the new barrier at Long Reach. The consultation will run until 30 June before the plan is submitted to the Government early next year.
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