§ 29. Mr. HendryTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in which of the areas affected by flooding in autumn 2000, it is her Department's proposal that the main solution is the removal of buildings on flood plains. [86796]
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§ Mr. MorleyDefra provides grant to local operating authorities for flood defence capital works that meet certain criteria. However responsibility for deciding which projects to promote and their timing rests with the operating authorities.
The information requested is not readily available from all operating authorities. The Environment Agency advise that they are not aware of any specific proposals to buy properties in the floodplain and remove them, following the autumn 2000 floods as the solution to flooding.
However, some flood protection schemes involve property acquisition to allow defences to be built, and in some areas where effective flood alleviation is difficult then the long-term solution may be relocation outside the flood risk area as buildings reach the end of their useful life.