Political - PESTEL (Posted by Nikhita)

Flood Defences

Six-year flood defence programme including 1,400 projects providing better protection for 300,000 homes. The Treasury said the £2.3bn of capital investment would help prevent more than £30bn economic damage.

Central Government spending on flood defences will reduce in real terms over the spending review period. The Government has introduced a new flood defence funding system, which it believes will help to meet the shortfall. The new funding arrangements seek to encourage more local investment in flood defences, so that schemes that might not be funded nationally may still go ahead.

The challenge posed by flooding could increase in future due to a number of factors. Annual flood damage costs could exceed £27 billion across the UK by 2080. The main factors

Include:

• Climate change, which could lead to rising sea levels and changes in rainfall;

• Ageing drainage and flood defence infrastructure;

• More buildings in flood-prone areas; and

• More paving, which increases the volume of water running off the ground. 5

It has been calculated that spending on flood defences would have to increase by £10-£30 million plus inflation per year to maintain existing levels of flood protection to 2035. 6 Additional funds for surface and groundwater flooding, £150 million a year, would also be needed. The Environment Agency found that increasing spending by around £20 million each year would deliver benefits of some £180 billion over the next 100 years.

National flood defence spending

There was a significant increase in flood defence spending from 1997 to 2010—spending increased by three-quarters in real terms.8 Central Government spending on flood defence in 2010-11 was cut soon after the Coalition Government was formed. Spending was reduced in year by £30 million or 5%.

9 In the 2010 Comprehensive Spending Review, a total of £2.17 billion in central government funding was provided for flood and coastal defence.