DEPARTMENT FOR
ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS News Release (News Release ref
:193/07) issued by The Government News Network on 22 June 2007
The Environment
Agency is to oversee management of all flood and erosion risk on
the English coast, Defra announced today.
Climate Change and Environment Minister Ian Pearson said that the
new role would increase accountability and clarity for the public
and help ensure that work is properly prioritised and managed so
that record levels of investment are used to best effect.
With its new strategic overview role, the Environment Agency will:
* take the lead in managing all sea flooding risk in England, and
fund and oversee coastal erosion works undertaken by local authorities
* ensure that proper and sustainable long-term Shoreline
Management Plans are in place for the English coastline
* work with local authorities to ensure that the resulting flood
and coastal erosion works are properly planned, prioritised,
procured, delivered and maintained to get maximum value for
taxpayers' money
* ensure that third party defences are sustainable
The role and membership of Regional Flood Defence Committees will
be widened to include coastal erosion, bringing the Environment
Agency's decisions and activity on coastal erosion within the
same governance framework that currently applies to flooding.
Local authorities' coastal groups will continue, but become
more streamlined and strategic.
Mr Pearson also announced five pilot areas to be eligible for
grants towards measures to protect against flooding in the
following areas: Uckfield, East Sussex; Bleasby, Nottingham;
Sunderland Point, Morecambe, Lancashire; Kirkby-in-Furness and
Appleby in Cumbria.
Ian Pearson said:
"This new Strategic Overview role for the Environment Agency
is an exciting new joined up approach to managing flood and
erosion risk on the coast. We will rationalise the present mixture
of roles between the Environment Agency and 92 coastal local
authorities and take a more robust and joined up approach to
managing risk. "While the Environment Agency will bring this
all together, they will work closely with local authorities so
that, crucially, the skills and local expertise that currently
exists in local authorities will continue to support this
activity. "Defra and local authorities will spend around £600
million this year on flood and coastal erosion risk management in
England. Taxpayers have a right to demand that this is used to
manage risks in the best and most sustainable way possible in each
case, whether by building hard defences or by other approaches
such as beach management or realigning the coastline to take
account of climate change and other pressures. Our approach seeks
to ensure that all risks across the country are considered
consistently and fairly, and the available funding is directed by
the Environment Agency to where it is needed most.
"There is significant work to be done to bring about the
changes I am announcing today. I am looking to the Environment
Agency, Regional Flood Defence Committees, coastal groups and
local authorities to work in close collaboration with Defra in
producing and delivering a challenging implementation plan.
Barbara Young, Chief Executive of the Environment Agency said:
"This is a significant step towards the sustainable
management of England's coast. Climate change and increased
development has put increased pressure on flood defences - and it
will continue to grow. It is vital that we take a long term view
of management for all of our coastline. This new role for the
Environment Agency is an exciting challenge.
"How we manage the coast is critical to the sustainability
of the communities and habitats it supports. We're looking
forward to working with the Government and local authorities when
we take on this sustainable approach."
Mr Pearson went on to say:
"I am also pleased to announce the first areas where we will
be piloting grant schemes for measures which protect individual
properties from flooding. I announced the intention to have these
grant schemes on 15 May and the first pilot areas have now been selected.
"These areas provide a range of different properties and
flooding types and information from the pilots, together with a
parallel research project, will help us take a long term decision
on whether such measures should feature in our long-term approach
to flood risk reduction."
Notes to editors
1. The intention to create a strategic overview role for the
Environment Agency was announced in the Government's First
Response to the consultation on its long term strategy for flood
and coastal erosion risk management Making space for water (Defra
news release of 24 March 2005).
2,. The aim of giving the Environment Agency a Strategic Overview
over all flood and coastal erosion risk management in England was
to improve governance, funding and delivery arrangements so that:
* We take a holistic and sustainable approach to risk which
allows for robust and evidence based long term decision making.
* Our approach is truly risk driven.
* There are clear roles and accountabilities.
* We ensure that there is effective stakeholder engagement
including an appropriate level of local, regional and national
input to the decision making process.
* Financial planning and management arrangements provide the best
value for money from the investment programme, including reducing
the risk of project cost overruns.
* We make best use of technical expertise and engineering resource.
* We support the implementation of the Water Framework Directive
(WFD) objectives
3. Today's announcement relates to the Environment
Agency's strategic overview role for sea flooding and coastal
erosion; development of the Agency's role in relation to
inland flooding is being pursued separately.
4. Sea flooding roles on the coast are currently mixed between
the Environment Agency and 92 coastal local authorities. The
Environment Agency leads in most areas but local authorities take
the lead in other places such as North West England. In future
the Environment Agency will manage of all sea flooding risk but it
will, where appropriate, continue to work with local authorities
in delivering works on the ground. Local authorities will
continue to promote coastal erosion works projects but these will
be under the Agency's strategic overview. This approach will
ensure much clearer accountabilities for sea flooding and coastal
erosion and the Environment Agency will produce new coastal maps
which show which organisation is responsible for delivering the
service on each stretch of coast.
5. The Environment Agency will manage and fund the programme for
producing long term (up to 100 year) Shoreline Management Plans
(SMPs) for the whole English coastline. While the plans will be
undertaken by the organisation (Environment Agency or local
authority) best placed to do so, the Environment Agency will
ensure that they are produced to a consistently high standard and
are truly sustainable.
6. Flood and coastal erosion works will be identified from the
SMPs and feed into a national assessment of flood and erosion risk
and a resulting prioritised multi-year works programme. New
outcome measures have been developed by Defra to help assess
relative priorities within the works programme.
7. Defra will allocate funding to the Environment Agency to
manage the flood and coastal erosion works programme. In doing
so, the Agency will ensure that all work, whether undertaken by
themselves or local authorities, is properly and efficiently
procured and delivered. The Agency will also ensure that robust
arrangements are in place for the long term management and
maintenance of the asset that is created, so that its lifetime
benefits are fully realised and premature capital replacement is
not necessary.
8. The Environment Agency will take on Defra's role in
approving all new coastal erosion works planned by local
authorities, whether or not grant is sought. We intend that the
Agency will ensure that defences and works operated by others are
consistent with the objectives of the Water Framework Directive,
given that this includes the hydromorphology of the coastline.
9. The role and membership of Regional Flood Defence Committees
will be widened to include coastal erosion. This will ensure that
the Environment Agency's decisions and activity in relation
to coastal erosion are brought within the same governance
framework as applies to flood risk management.
10. The present coastal groups of local authorities would
continue under these arrangements though Defra wants to work with
them in producing fewer, bigger and more strategic organisations
with consistently strong Environment Agency membership as well as
representation from other key stakeholders. Such a development of
the coastal groups was suggested by the chairs of these groups in
an earlier stage of development of the Environment Agency
strategic overview role.
11. Defra will produce a detailed implementation plan by as soon
as possible. Wherever possible changes will be made by
administrative action, including by delegating current Defra
responsibilities to the Environment Agency or by amending existing
guidance (eg for Shoreline Management Plans). Where changes to
primary legislation are necessary Defra will be investigating the
mechanisms for doing so.
12. Regarding resistance and resilience grants, Ian Pearson
announced the intention to run a series of pilot studies on 15 May
(Defra news release 133/07). Grants of up to £5000 will be
awarded to property owners to install devices or other measures to
keep out flood waters or to reduce the damage caused by water
entering the house. The sites initially selected for these pilots are:
* Uckfield, East Sussex
* Bleasby, Nottingham
*
Sunderland Point, Morecambe, Lancs
* Sandside,
Kirkby-in-Furness, Cumbria
* The Sands, Appleby, Cumbria
13. A total of 172 properties will potentially benefit from these
measures with a total estimated cost of £400,000. Further sites,
suggested by other organisations, will be considered shortly with
potential further expenditure of up to £100,000. In selecting the
sites Defra has looked at providing protection to a range of
different property types against different forms of flooding. We
will also test different approaches to delivery. The experience
from these pilots, and a research project running in parallel,
will help inform a future decision on whether grants to improve
the resistance and resilience of individual properties should be
included in our long term approach to flood risk reduction.
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