Agency to rewrite funding formula for defences

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THE ENVIRONMENT Agency (EA) is going to rewrite the funding formula which dictates how much areas get to spend on flood defences, according to reports.

A Sunday newspaper said funding will for the first time include the severe toll flooding can take on people’s mental health as well as damage to property.

It follows criticism that the current formula is biased towards richer areas, because it focuses on the value of the assets protected.

New flood defences would still have to follow the current cost benefit formula, with each £1 spent preventing £8 of damage, it is reported. But damage to health would be included in the sums.

The EA said yesterday they and the Government recognised the “emotional distress that flooding causes to residents and business owners”. Later this year they will publish a new floods strategy, setting out plans to prepare for and adapt to the risks that climate change is creating.

A statement said: “The strategy will look at the total impacts of flooding on individuals and communities – including the impacts on mental health as well as structural damage to property and infrastructure, regardless of their location across the country.”

It follows research that found that flooding can increase the chance of facing mental health problems such as stress and depression by 50 per cent and a quarter still continue to suffer two years after the event.

The Sunday Times claimed up to 60 per cent of the £2.6bn flood defence spending from 2015 to 2021 will be spent round London. However the EA said in the seven years to 2019, of £3bn capital investment in defences, £1.1bn had been spent in the South, £1bn in the North and £0.9bn in the Midlands. An extra £56m was announced in September – of which 90 per cent will be spent in the North.