§ Lord Hardy of Wathasked Her Majesty's Government:
What proportion of the flooding incidents during the autumn of 2000 occurred on water courses not managed by the Environment Agency; what proportion occurred at locations which had no flood protection at all; and whether consideration is to be given to extending the role of the agency to allow consideration of cases of inadequate provision where it has at the present time little or no standing. [HL186]
§ Lord WhittyApproximately 10,000 properties were flooded in the late 2000 floods divided approximately as follows: 18 per cent from watercourses for which the Environment Agency is not the relevant operating authority; 14 per cent from a variety of inadequate drainage problems, mainly from highway and surface water drainage systems; 40 per cent from watercourses managed and maintained by the Agency where there is currently no flood protection; and 28 per cent from watercourses managed and maintained by the Agency where there is currently flood protection.
The Environment Agency has a general duty to supervise all matters relating to flood defence. In November 1999 the agency published an elaboration of this duty including a commitment to investigate the causes of serious or repeated flood events on watercourses for which it is not responsible, and to identify potential solutions.