The UK Government has announced £120m to conduct repairs for strengthening the country’s defences against flood water and £200m to help more than 25 areas in the country to develop new actions to improve their resilience to flooding.
The recent rainfall in the UK in February resulted in thousands of homes being flooded and lives disrupted across several communities up and down in the country.
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Since then, the government has been working with the Environment Agency and local authorities to get people back into their homes.
Since 2015, the UK government claims to have invested £2.6bn for better equipping the country against flooding.
The investment has resulted in currently delivering more than 1,000 flood and coastal defence schemes to protect 300,000 homes across England while offering greater certainty and protection to their living in areas with risk of flooding.
But, the twin impact of climate change and population growth indicates that more needs to be done. And, in this year’s Budget, the UK government announced to double its investment in flood and coastal defences in England to £5.2bn over the next six years.
The investment is expected to protect further 336,000 homes and non-residential properties such as businesses, schools and hospitals are better protected from flooding and coastal erosion.
Furthermore, the government and the Environment Agency will update how the level of funding is allocated to the projects.
The updated payments will account for inflation and based on the overall impact of flooding. The increased payments for flood schemes are also expected to create a range of environmental benefits.
The increased funding could protect properties that could later be at risk of flooding due to climate change. Surface water flooding has been added as a new risk category, will also qualify for more funding.
The changes made to the schemes will be applicable from next April, helping to recognise the full range of benefits that schemes can bring. The changes also indicate that more schemes will qualify for increased levels of government funding, in the years to come.
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UK allocates more funds to strengthen defence against flooding. (Credit: Pixabay/272447)
