content@managingwater.co.uk Industry News & Views EFRA - Flood Funding Review
The House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee (EFRA) have released the written evidence recieved for the report on flood funding. The key issues appear to be the lack of funding for maintenance works in terms of looking after our existing river channels, the issue of flood insurance, the funding of SuDS and delays in partnership funding schemes.
“More expendituire required on channel maintenance”
The Association of Drainage Authorities (ADA) made the point that investment in maintenance on Main River and associated assets has reached unsustainably low levels to an extent that a lack of maintenance contributed to the flooding that occurred in England during 2012.
They also suggest that some watercourses should be transferred to more local risk management authorities, such as Internal Drainage Boards.
Ewan Larcombe, leader of the National Flood Prevention Party and operates the Jubilee river web site, said that the lack of
maintenance and neglect are the key points. He highlights the importance of dredging for the purposes of both conveyance capacity maintenance and conveyance capacity improvement and asks why it appears that the dredging and/or re- profiling of existing main rivers is not even a considered option when looking at reducing the probability of flooding.
The EA has a duty to maintain main rivers for navigational purposes, but no corresponding duty to maintain the channels for water conveyance purposes.
The NFU highlight several critical issues including the need to invest more funding into maintenance
budgets and to allow farmers, who are willing, to maintain their own watercourses. A significant increase in maintenance of watercourses would see existing network of drains, pumps and ditches work more effectively to convey water rather than "slow the flow" and therefore there is is an urgent need to reverse the decline in spending for essential river maintenance.
They say that Defra policy must re-balance the weighting for flood defence spending and give greater consideration to high value farmland and productive agricultural land must be properly valued to reflect its long-term value to society.
The CLA made the
point that If Government are unable to demonstrate fairness and equity by addressing the issues that have been highlighted in relation to the funding process, then it is extremely important that landowners and rural businesses are able to more easily carry out flood defence works themselves and protect their assets and livelihoods.
The fleet of Thames dredgers (and the operators) that were used by the National Rivers Authority were disposed of without consultation after the EA took over in 1995/6.
The EA now lacks in-house expertise and outside contractors are designing and constructing new flood alleviation schemes while any possibility of improving existing drainage capacity is not even considered. He says that the EA should be looking at the feasibility of improved conveyance capacity in existing watercourses BEFORE raising embankments and building upstream storage and bypass channels.
“A sustainable and cost- effective solution for funding the long-term maintenance of SuDS”
LGA Local Government Association
On SuDS, the LGA are urging Government to produce an efficient, effective and value-for-money system, including a sustainable and cost-effective solution for funding the long-term maintenance of SUDs.
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