Local factors in managing flood and coastal erosion risk and Property Flood Resilience - call for evidence

Overview

In July 2020 the government announced its long-term plan to create a nation more resilient to future flood and coastal erosion risk in its Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Policy Statement[1].  This ambitious plan sets out five key commitments – supported by over 40 actions – to accelerate progress to better protect and better prepare the country for the years to come. This Call for Evidence will help us to take forward some of the policies and actions in the Policy Statement. Alongside the Policy Statement, the Environment Agency published its National Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategy for England[2].

Specifically, this Call for Evidence is seeking information about:

Part 1: Strengthening the assessment of local circumstances in the government’s flood and coastal defence programme

• Additional ways in which specific local circumstances can be taken account of in the government’s future flood and coastal defence investment programme. We are exploring whether any specific changes should be made to reflect local circumstances – such as communities that have been frequently flooded in the past, communities that are more economically vulnerable, smaller communities, and communities in need of greater property-level measures to resist flood water. We are also exploring how we can ensure timely and wider financial contributions to assist with the pace of developing a flood scheme and how we track progress of the overall programme.

Part 1 relates to pages 9-31 of the Call for evidence document and questions 6-33.

Part 2: Property Flood Resilience policy

• Ways of accelerating Property Flood Resilience (PFR), which includes measures people can  take to help reduce flood damage to their property, and enable faster recovery. In the Policy Statement we committed to ensure buildings, important infrastructure sites and key public services are better prepared to manage flood risk. This will help us identify actions to facilitate this policy and address any barriers to progress.

Part 2 relates to pages 32-48 of the Call for evidence document and questions 34-38.

Before responding to the questions set out in this Call for Evidence, we recommend that you read the Call for Evidence document setting out the context.

You are welcome to answer all questions in this Call for Evidence, or to answer questions that are specific to your areas of expertise.  If you wish to only respond to one part of the Call for Evidence please skip over the other questions. The first five questions are for everyone.

What happens next

The government will aim to publish a summary of responses within 12 weeks of the consultation ending.