§ Mr. HayesTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will list the adjustable flood control and defences that have been constructed since May 1997; what analyses have been made of upriver spillover since construction; and if she will make a statement. [128168]
§ Mr. MorleyDefra provides grant aid as a percentage of eligible costs to the flood and coastal defence operating authorities in England—the Environment Agency (EA), local authorities and internal drainage boards—to assist with capital works and studies to manage flood risk. Since May 1997 approximately 800 such capital construction projects have been approved by Defra for grant and/or completed by the operating authorities. However information is not held centrally as to whether these defences were adjustable or not. I regret this information could not be provided except at disproportionate cost.
The Environment Agency is by far the largest flood risk operating authority in England, being empowered to manage flood risk from all rivers designated as "main" and from the sea. The agency undertakes analyses both upstream and downstream of new defences, both adjustable and fixed, prior to construction in order to understand the river regime. These "river models" provide a tool for understanding how different types of flood defence structure can influence the river regime and assist in the final selection and detailed design processes. By undertaking this in advance of construction any potential adverse impacts should be avoided or minimised.
Unless particular circumstances arise it is not usual to revisit river models soon after the construction of new defences given the pre-construction activities. However, periodic modelling of many rivers/locations is undertaken through other agency activities such as periodic reviews of defence performance and improvement strategies, broad scale modelling for flood mapping, flood risk assessments and catchment flood management plans.
§ Mr. HayesTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the long-term strategic maintenance plans for flood defences in Lincolnshire. [128169]
§ Mr. MorleyThe Environment Agency has long-term flood management strategies in place for each of the major rivers in Lincolnshire: the Nene, Welland, 305W Glen and South Forty Foot. These strategies are implemented through maintenance regimes and capital improvement works, and are subject to regular review. Responsibility for maintenance of other flood defences in Lincolnshire rests with the agency, local authorities or internal drainage boards.
The agency will also be preparing more wide-ranging catchment flood management plans for the major rivers over the next three years, and a revision of the shoreline management plan for the Wash will be started next year.
§ Mr. HancockTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on changes in(a) the level and (b) the mechanisms of flood and coastal defence funding. [127759]
§ Mr. MorleyThe Government are committed to maintenance and improvement of flood and coastal defences, including those to reduce the risk of coastal erosion as well as flooding, and have planned to spend nearly £1.5 billion in this and the next two years:
£ million Defra1 ODPM2 Total 2002–03 131 280 411 2003–04 144 295 439 2004–05 137 332 469 2005–06 182 382 564 1 For capital projects, Environment Agency national initiatives such as National Flood and Coastal Defence Database and Catchment Flood Management Plans, Storm Tide Forecasting Service etc.
2 Funding from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister to local authorities to support their levies to the Environment Agency and internal drainage boards and their own spend on flood and coastal defence.
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced the Government's conclusions of the Flood and Coastal Defence Funding Review on 12 March 2003. We propose that Government funding of the Environment Agency's flood defence service should in future come from a single stream of Defra block grant which will replace the existing requirement to approve individual projects for capital grant and the levies currently paid by local authorities to the Agency. These changes will provide more assured flood defence funding for the Agency and allow better long-term planning. The introduction of block grant to replace individual project approvals relies on successful passage of provisions in the Water Bill and, subject to this, we aim to implement the changes as soon as possible.