Deteriorating Flood Defence Assets
Failure of the Environment Agency to maintain flood defence assets at required conditions, increasing flood risk for properties.
266 items
6 sources
Strongest theme matches
Mixed across source types and ranked by classifier confidence plus text match strength.
Committee recommendation
100match
#6 - Fourth Report - Flooding
It is critical that the considerable outlay of public money through the Government’s £5.2 billion capital investment in flood defences is not wasted through a failure to adequately resource the maintenance of new and existing assets. We are concerned Flooding 47 by the evidence we have received about existing shortcomings in asset maintenance, and this situation will only...
Matched on
terms: asset, defence, flood
Committee recommendation
100match
#8 - Environment Agency targets 98% of high consequence flood defence assets at required condition.
The Agency is responsible for maintaining existing flood defence assets that it owns. Its modelling showed that it is best value for money to have 98% of its high consequence assets at required condition. Timely maintenance is important because if an asset fails it is then more expensive to repair.10 The Agency divides flood defence assets into high,...
Matched on
terms: asset, defence, flood
Committee recommendation
100match
#1 - Public Accounts Committee scrutinised Defra and Agency's flood risk management and defence assets.
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Environment Agency (the Agency) about their long-term ambition and objectives for flood risk, their understanding and management of flood risk, and their progress on building and maintaining flood defence assets.1
Matched on
terms: asset, defence, flood
Committee recommendation
96match
#10 - Environment Agency failed to meet reduced asset condition target, increasing flood risk for 203,000 properties.
The Agency has not been able to reach even the 94.5% level. In summer 2023, only 93.5% of the Agency’s high consequence assets were at the required condition.14 203,000 7 Q 65; C&AG’s Report, para 11 8 Q 65 9 C&AG’s Report, paras 6, 1.8 10 Q 43 11 C&AG’s Report, footnotes 2 & 3 12 Q 51...
Matched on
terms: asset, flood
Committee recommendation
95match
#4 - Require Sellafield Ltd to explain actions addressing deteriorating asset condition and maintenance team productivity.
The failure of the Replacement Analytical Project illustrates the need to improve asset management at Sellafield. Sellafield is frequently in a race against time to complete work before assets (such as buildings or equipment) reach the end of their life or risks materialise (particularly as changes to planning assumptions can affect many other facilities on the site). Poor...
Matched on
terms: asset, deteriorating
Committee recommendation
95match
#12 - Commission a national audit of all flood resilience assets by 2026.
The Government should commission a national audit of flood resilience assets by 2026, encompassing both engineered and nature-based infrastructure. This audit should identify the type, location, ownership, condition, and maintenance responsibilities of all relevant assets, including those owned or managed by third parties. The process should be led by Defra in collaboration with the Environment Agency and other...
Matched on
terms: asset, flood
Committee recommendation
91match
#23 - Deteriorating asset condition poses acute risks, impeding hazard reduction and future site operations.
We explored with the witnesses the implications of assets’ condition for Sellafield Ltd’s plans to address hazards and clean up the site by 2125 and identified four areas of particular concern. Firstly – poor availability of assets has impeded Sellafield Ltd’s ability to address site hazards (such as retrieving waste from the older ponds and silos).60 The poor...
Matched on
terms: asset, deteriorating
Committee recommendation
91match
#11 - Absence of comprehensive record of flood resilience assets limits strategic management.
We find that the absence of a comprehensive, up-to-date, and accessible record of flood resilience assets significantly limits England’s ability to manage flood risk strategically. The lack of visibility over third-party, locally delivered, and nature-based assets fragments responsibility, undermines coordination, and hinders long-term investment decisions. Without a full understanding of where assets are, what condition they are in,...
Matched on
terms: asset, flood
Committee recommendation
89match
#17 - Forty-Fifth Report - Managing flood risk
The Agency is already seeing the impacts of climate change through the increasing strain on existing flood defences. In March 2020, the government gave the Agency £120 million to repair the defences damaged in the 2019–20 winter floods. At that time, the 12 https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/4520/documents/45720/default/ 13 C&AG’s Report, para 2.19 14 Q 74 15 Q 68–69 16 Q 69,...
Matched on
terms: asset, defence, flood
Committee recommendation
82match
#16 - Forty-Fifth Report - Managing flood risk
The Agency explained that on-going maintenance costs are increasing for three main reasons. First, as a result of more extreme weather due to climate change, both more extreme flooding and more extreme droughts. Second, some flood defences in England are quite old, having been built in the 1960s and 1970s. They are now coming to the end of...
Matched on
terms: defence, flood
Committee recommendation
77match
#1 - Fourth Report - Flooding
We welcome the doubling of investment in flood defences announced at Budget 2020, amounting to £5.2 billion over the next six years. It is vital that measures to address the growing, long-term, flood and coastal risk in the face of climate change are adequately resourced. The Government should therefore keep the level of investment under constant review, with...
Matched on
terms: defence, flood
Committee recommendation
77match
#11 - Second Report - NAO financial audit insights 2024–25
Over the period 2019–20 to 2023–24, the Environment Agency’s annual accounts were qualified five times in succession because it could not accurately account for its flood management assets.27 However, the agency recently received a clean audit opinion for its 2024–25 accounts, its first since 2018–19, and we asked it about the steps taken to achieve this.28 It told...
Matched on
terms: asset, flood
Committee recommendation
70match
#37 - Embed nature-based solutions into national flood resilience strategy by 2027 and mandate SuDS.
As recommended in our Flooding Resilience report, nature-based solutions are highly effective and underutilised in protecting England’s properties from flooding. The Government should embed nature-based solutions as a core component of national flood resilience strategy by 2027 and make Sustainable Drainage Systems mandatory in all new developments. (Recommendation, Paragraph 128) Sustainable Construction
Matched on
terms: flood
PFD report
69match
Maureen Gilbert
Identified flood defence measures for Tapton Terrace were not implemented due to cost, leaving the area vulnerable to flooding and posing a continued risk to life, especially for residents.
Matched on
terms: defence, flood
Committee recommendation
69match
#6 - Write to Committee within 12 months on Flood Re closure implications and transition plan.
We are concerned that Flood Re is not providing the protection that was envisaged and that 2039 will likely be too soon to close down the Flood Re scheme given the increasing risk from flooding and slower progress on protecting properties. The Committee has concerns over the number of high-risk households Flood Re protects. It is unclear what...
Matched on
terms: flood
Committee recommendation
69match
#14 - Forty-Fifth Report - Managing flood risk
The government has a record of providing the Agency with long-term capital funding settlements, with two six-year settlements covering 2015–16 to 2020–21 and 2021–22 to 2026–27. However, the Agency only has a revenue funding settlement covering the next financial year (2021–22). Revenue funding covers people and running costs including the on-going maintenance of existing flood defences. The Agency...
Matched on
terms: defence, flood
Committee recommendation
69match
#2 - Forty-Fifth Report - Managing flood risk
Scarce local authority resources and low levels of private sector investment are barriers to the effective management of flood risks, especially given the impact of Covid-19. Lead local flood authorities (unitary authorities or county councils) are responsible for managing local flood risks. Their funding for this is not ring- fenced and there are concerns over the level of...
Matched on
terms: defence, flood
Committee recommendation
66match
#35 - Fourth Report - Flooding
The Government should review the institutional arrangements for community engagement in flood risk management, to identify best practice and opportunities for more effective approaches. The Government should also commit to ensuring that risk management authorities are resourced and supported to carry out meaningful engagement, including making funding available to the voluntary sector to build capacity in other organisations....
Matched on
terms: flood
Committee recommendation
66match
#13 - Initiate consultation on statutory requirements for assessing cumulative impacts of development on flood risk.
We reiterate that the Government should ensure that flood and climate resilience are embedded into the core tools of planning, regulation, and investment appraisal. The NPPF should be strengthened to prioritise flooding avoidance and climate adaptation, mandating sustainable drainage systems and consider the need for property flood resilience measures in all new developments through building regulations. As stated...
Matched on
terms: flood
Committee recommendation
66match
#12 - Planning system fails to account for cumulative development impacts on flood risk.
As our recent report on flood resilience stated, the planning system fails to account for the cumulative and cross-boundary impacts of development on flood risk. Land use decisions are often made in isolation, without considering downstream consequences, catchment-scale dynamics, or long-term resilience. This fragmented approach undermines catchment- based and natural flood management, can lead to new development in...
Matched on
terms: flood
Committee recommendation
65match
#5 - Fourth Report - Flooding
The Environment Agency should facilitate this by keeping a record of schemes that are unable to proceed due to being unable to secure adequate partnership contributions, including a quantification of the losses in flood resilience that result.
Matched on
terms: flood
Committee recommendation
65match
#1 - Forty-Fifth Report - Managing flood risk
On the basis of a Report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (the Department) and the Environment Agency (the Agency) on managing flood risks.1
Matched on
terms: flood
Committee recommendation
65match
#8 - Forty-Fifth Report - Managing flood risk
Despite the known risks, there are still plans to build houses on flood plains. While government policy is not to build on flood plains unless unavoidable, the Agency’s analysis indicates that there could be a large increase – of up to 50 per cent - in the number of houses built on flood plains over the next 50...
Matched on
terms: flood
Committee recommendation
65match
#22 - Increasing maintenance backlog and unknown asset conditions negatively impact Sellafield operations.
There is an increasing backlog of maintenance tasks at Sellafield which is affecting the condition of Sellafield’s assets. Sellafield Ltd could not carry out some tasks during the COVID–19 pandemic due to restrictions on working practices to prevent transmission of the virus. However even now, fewer maintenance tasks are being carried out than was the case before the...
Matched on
terms: asset
Committee recommendation
65match
#26 - Flood Re's future insurance mechanism to be reviewed ahead of 2039 expiry
Flood Re’s existence is due to end in 2039, by which time it was expected that insurance would be affordable to householders given the anticipated reduction in flood risk as a result of improvements to flood resilience. Defra told us it would keep under review what is the right insurance mechanism to have in place, bearing in mind...
Matched on
terms: defence, flood
Committee recommendation
64match
#12 - Second Report - NAO financial audit insights 2024–25
The agency told us there have been considerable additional benefits from improving management of its flood asset base. For example, it can now group assets together to better understand how they interact with each other, and more accurately forecast levels of spending needed for maintenance or the risk of failure.30 Losses and special payments
Matched on
terms: asset, flood
Committee recommendation
63match
#3 - Fortieth Report - Achieving government’s long-term environmental goals
Government still does not have a good grip of the total costs required to deliver its environmental goals and funding so far has been piecemeal. The Department received an additional £1 billion in funding for 2020–21 in the Spending Review 2020, though it is not clear how much of this is genuinely new money for environmental work, as...
Matched on
terms: defence, flood
Committee recommendation
61match
#21 - Sellafield's century-long decommissioning plan faces urgent race against ageing assets.
The NDA told us that its plan for decommissioning Sellafield will take around a hundred years, and has three phases. The current phase, focussing on ‘minimising the risk of offsite consequences’ will last until approximately the 2060s; in the next phase most of the waste will be moved offsite for permanent storage, before the final phase sees all...
Matched on
terms: asset
Committee recommendation
60match
#5 - Publish a 10-year plan for Weybridge redevelopment, detailing progress, interim risks, and mitigation
The Department has secured vital funding for the National Biosecurity Centre at Weybridge, but must manage significant interim risks until the redevelopment is completed in 10 years. The Weybridge facility is a critical national asset for managing threats from animal diseases but is in poor condition with ageing buildings that need major repair and replacement. The government committed...
Matched on
terms: asset
PFD report
57match
William McCourt
Local residents' reports of flooding were not recorded or acted upon, and maintenance staff failed to correctly identify land ownership, leading to significant delays in addressing a safety hazard.
Matched on
terms: flood
PFD report
57match
Daniel Hodgin
A crucial towpath gate, intended to be locked during high river levels, was open due to the absence of an effective notification system between agencies, posing ongoing flood safety risks.
Matched on
terms: flood
PFD report
57match
Ray Westlake
A stretch of road regularly experiences significant standing water and flooding, and the absence of warning signs for motorists creates a future risk of accidents.
Matched on
terms: flood
PFD report
57match
Saeid Hedayat
West Sussex County Council's drain clearance risk assessment was inadequate, failing to account for specific blockages and lacking regular review or warning signs for known flood risks, despite available data and increased storm severity.
Matched on
terms: flood
PFD report
57match
James Scott
Inadequate gully maintenance, insufficient warning signage, and the continued presence of surface water on a known flood-risk road contributed to a fatal incident.
Matched on
terms: flood
Committee recommendation
57match
#7 - Forty-Fifth Report - Managing flood risk
We are not convinced that the Department has yet done enough to address the difficulties those recently flooded have in getting affordable insurance. Some people who have recently been flooded still face difficulties in obtaining affordable insurance. The Department states that the existence of Flood Re should ensure that affordable insurance is available even for those households at...
Matched on
terms: flood
Committee recommendation
57match
#19 - Defence estate accommodation, particularly at RAF Marham, remains inadequate and outdated
The Department accepted that accommodation at RAF Marham is not good enough, reflecting wider problems within the Defence estate, more than half of which is over 50 years old. The Department told us that it had identified the need for increased investment in accommodation in the Strategic Defence Review and is working through investment choices as part of...
Matched on
terms: defence
Committee recommendation
57match
#4 - Fourth Report - Flooding
While we acknowledge the great value of partnership contributions from public sources, it is obvious that private sector investment is too low (as the Government has implicitly accepted), and this could contribute to uncertainty about whether schemes will be deliverable. The Government should explain how it will monitor whether the level of partnership funding, including private sector contributions,...
Matched on
terms: flood
Committee recommendation
57match
#17 - Embed climate and flood resilience as core test for all public spending by 2026.
By 2026, the Government should embed climate and flood resilience as a core test for all departmental spending and public investment proposals. This should be supported by clear resilience standards, measurable targets, and a requirement for every department to demonstrate how its spending aligns with these standards. (Recommendation, Paragraph 69)
Matched on
terms: flood
Committee recommendation
55match
#11 - Fortieth Report - Achieving government’s long-term environmental goals
The Department received an additional £1 billion in funding for 2020–21 in the Spending Review, however it confirmed that this includes a previously announced increase in flood defence spending.29 It noted that the increase will allow for significant investment in other environmental areas, including tree planting and peatland restoration, however was unable to specify the exact break down....
Matched on
terms: defence, flood
Committee recommendation
52match
#13 - 6th Report - Erosion of trust: the impact of coastal erosion on communities
Past FCERM funding arrangements have limited support for coastal management by relying on narrow benefit assessments that overlook wider, nonmonetised risks from coastal erosion and the existential pressures facing coastal communities and industries. We welcome the Government’s intention to incorporate broader nonmonetised benefits into the prioritisation process from 2026. However, it remains unclear how these benefits will be...
Matched on
terms: flood
Committee recommendation
52match
#1 - 6th Report - Erosion of trust: the impact of coastal erosion on communities
Coastal erosion and landslides have profound and far reaching consequences for individuals, families, and communities. While the physical loss of homes, buildings, and infrastructure is visible and measurable, the broader human and social impacts are equally severe but are not fully recognised. Impacts include harm to mental wellbeing, the deepening of existing social inequalities, the loss of essential...
Matched on
terms: asset
Committee recommendation
52match
#26 - Commence Schedule 3 of Act, making Sustainable Drainage Systems mandatory in new developments.
Despite repeated pledges by successive governments, Schedule 3 of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 has still not been brought into force in England, leaving Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) optional in new developments and missing a critical opportunity to embed resilience from the outset. The Government should now commence Schedule 3 in England without further delay, making...
Matched on
terms: flood
NAO recommendation
52match
Environment Agency Annual Report and Accounts 2023-24
completing the drive towards a more stable, accurate and complete asset management dataset with data update reliably embedded in business as usual processes for asset management
Matched on
terms: asset
LGO / SPSO decision
52match
201300513 - Argyll and Bute Council
Mr C's home was regularly affected by flooding. Mr C complained that this was due to an inadequate road drainage system. He said that the council had accepted this, but although they had committed in 2012 to resolve the problem, no work had been carried out. The council said they had been actively seeking a solution to the...
Matched on
terms: flood
PFD report
49match
Roger Hamer
Inadequate highway inspection practices failed to document carriageway deterioration, and a proposed new management procedure risks increasing deaths, particularly for cyclists, by raising the threshold for defect investigation and repair.
Matched on
classifier match
LGO / SPSO decision
48match
21-012-620 - North Yorkshire County Council
Summary: Mr X complains about the Council’s decision not to carry out road drainage works to prevent flooding at his property. We will not investigate the complaint because we are unlikely to find evidence of fault by the Council.
Matched on
terms: flood
Committee recommendation
48match
#14 - 6th Report - Erosion of trust: the impact of coastal erosion on communities
In its response, Defra should provide a plan setting out how wider nonmonetised benefits for coastal erosion projects will be incorporated into the reformed FCERM funding model. This plan should: 22 a. Specify the benefits to be included in the 2026 FCERM prioritisation process and provide the methodology for assessing them. b. Commission independent research to determine the...
Matched on
terms: flood
Committee recommendation
48match
#6 - 6th Report - Erosion of trust: the impact of coastal erosion on communities
Defra should work with insurers to commission a review into feasibility of implementing a Flood Re-like Government-backed insurance product for coastal erosion and landslides. (Recommendation, Paragraph 20)
Matched on
terms: flood
LGO / SPSO decision
48match
201203283 - The Highland Council
Mr and Mrs C complained to us that the council had failed to take reasonable action in response to their concerns about flooding at properties that belonged to their son and daughter. They said that the council had failed to meet their duties under the Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009. The council had assessed the risk of...
Matched on
terms: flood
LGO / SPSO decision
47match
22-011-646 - Environment Agency
Summary: We will not exercise discretion to investigate this complaint about damage to the complainant’s home and garden caused by flood alleviation works over the past years. This complaint was received outside the normal 12-month period for investigating complaints. There is no evidence to suggest that Miss X could not have complained to us sooner.
Matched on
terms: flood