§ Mr. GardinerTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will permit local authorities and private companies to contribute to the costs of flood reduction work in tandem with the Environment Agency when the cost benefit analysis of the project by the Agency is less than one. [106057]
764W
§ Mr. MorleyPrivate companies and local authorities can and do make contributions towards the cost of flood defence projects but it is often incorrect to deduct these contributions from the cost of the project. Generally these contributions only affect the distribution of funding of costs and not the total resources required for the project. Hence an uneconomic project will remain uneconomic no matter the source.
§ Mr. GardinerTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how often the property valuations used by the Environment Agency for their cost benefit analysis of flood reduction works are updated. [106058]
§ Mr. MorleyThere are no hard and fast rules as to how often an operating authority should re-evaluate the benefits of a flood alleviation scheme. It is important, however, that in the preparation of a cost benefit analysis that the base year for evaluating cost and benefits should be the same.