§ Mr. David PorterTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on his Department's press release on the autumn statement, explaining how(a) local authorities and (b) the National Rivers Authority will be able to draw on the extra funding additionally to protect the East Anglian coastline in its entirety.
§ Mr. CurryAn additional £7.1 million of grant and £9.9 million of supplementary credit approval are being made available over the next three years for coast protection work undertaken by maritime district councils. This means that support is now available for a programme of local authority coast protection work to nearly £88 million over this period. Funding is allocated to local authorities when schemes have been approved by the Department, and is provided according to need and priority.
For the National Rivers Authority, an extra £14.5 million of grant is being made available over the next three years for flood and sea defence work, which means that support will be available for an NRA programme over this period of nearly £245 million. The Anglian region of the NRA will benefit from funding within this total on a programme of about £95 million.