Environment committee report criticises lack of long-term planning and raises doubts whether target of protecting 300,000 homes by 2021 would be met

The government is failing to protect communities at risk of flooding, according to a highly critical report from MPs, who said they were sceptical that the target of protecting 300,000 more homes would be met.



Ministers react after severe flooding rather than planning ahead for the long term, according to the cross-party environmental audit committee (EAC), which said flood defences are not sufficiently maintained.

Flood defence spending was cut sharply after David Cameron became prime minister but was increased after major flooding over the winters of 2013-14 and again in 2015-16. A series of authorities had warned that flood risk was rising and the Guardian revealed that hundreds of defence schemes had not gone ahead as planned because of cuts.

The government announced a £700m boost to flood defence spending in March and is currently undertaking a national flood resilience review. It has already committed £2.3bn for flood defences up to 2021 and pledged to protect maintenance budgets.

“We know that flooding is projected to get worse and occur more frequently because of climate change, so it just isn’t good enough for government to react to flooding events as they occur,” said Mary Creagh MP, chair of the EAC. “Communities at risk deserve certainty from government.”

The EAC enquiry forced the government to publish a previously withheld report which showed that the state of repair of flood defences fell as funding was cut. “The government needs to put money into the upkeep of existing flood defences as well as investing in new defences,” said Creagh.

“Failure to do so can have terrible consequences for residents and businesses when defences fail. Any decline in flood defence condition is an unacceptable risk to local communities.”

The report urges ministers to go beyond their current target and ensure virtually all critical flood defences meet the Environment Agency’s required standard by 2019.

The MPs also criticised the statement by floods minister Rory Stewart that the extra £700m was the result of a “political calculation” and that it might not be spent according to the strict value-for-money criteria currently used. This could lead to inefficient use of the money and to some parts of the country losing out to others, the report said.

The government’s target of protecting 300,000 more homes by 2021 was overly optimistic, said the MPs, because it relied on every single spending decision achieving the maximum benefit possible.

The report also said there was a “lack of government vigour” in ensuring essential services, like the electricity and communications networks, airports and ports, were being protected to consistent and robust levels. The MPs also said “the number of local flood plans and strategies is worryingly low and the government does not seem to be supporting local authorities to develop them”.

Lord John Krebs, chair of the Committee on Climate Change’s adaptation group, said: “Like the EAC, we remain deeply concerned about the lack of long-term planning to address UK flood resilience, past underinvestment in flood defences, and continuing development on the floodplain – all in the context of increasing climate risk.”

He said much now hinged on the outcome of the government’s flooding review: “The discussions have so far been encouraging, but there is always a danger that the political appetite to take the necessary action will fade along with the memories of last winter’s catastrophic floods.”

Friends of the Earth flooding campaigner Guy Shrubsole said: “After every flood politicians stride about in welly boots, throw a bit of money at the problem and commission a review. Will Rory Stewart and [cabinet minister] Oliver Letwin be remembered for completely rethinking how we tackle flooding – or will their reviews sink without trace?”

A spokeswoman for the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: “Our six-year capital investment programme for flood defences will bring an end to year-on-year fluctuations in spending so communities can have certainty in future funding. Our National Flood Resilience Review will be published shortly, delivering immediate actions to better protect communities ahead of this winter. This will be followed by our 25-year environment plan later this year setting out a new approach to managing our rivers across whole catchments, keeping homes, businesses and infrastructure safer from flooding.”