East Yorkshire flood protection cash investment welcomed by Sir Greg Knight

118 more homes and businesses in East Yorkshire are to be better protected from flooding and coastal erosion by 2026-27, as part of new plans published by the Government alongside a £5.2 billion investment.
Sir Greg Knight examines flooding in East Yorkshire.Sir Greg Knight examines flooding in East Yorkshire.
Sir Greg Knight examines flooding in East Yorkshire.

The Flood and Coastal Erosion Investment Plan outlines how this record £5.2 billion of investment over the next six years will be spent, including more than £860 million in 2021-22 on boosting the design and construction of more than 1,000 flooding alleviation schemes.

Properties will benefit from £639,919 of investment in 2021-22, as part of the £860 million worth of investment, helping to rapidly give greater protections to homes which are vulnerable to flooding and coastal erosion.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The funding will help to protect a total of 336,000 properties in England by 2026-2027, including 118 in East Yorkshire, helping to avoid £32 billion in wider economic damages and reducing the national flood risk by up to 11 per cent across the country.

The funding will be accompanied by a consultation in the autumn, where the Government will look at how to better protect frequently flooded communities, following a call for evidence earlier this year. The announcement has been welcomed by local Member of Parliament Sir Greg Knight, who has campaigned for more resources to combat both flooding and coastal erosion, and who says he will continue to do so.

The consultation will consider how to strengthen the assessment of local circumstances, such as where areas have flooded on multiple occasions, when allocating funding during the six-year plan.  

The Government is also bringing in tighter guidance for planning authorities as part of a package of actions to better protect and prepare communities for flooding.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Improvements to flood insurance such as measures to allow flooded households to claim extra money to install property flood resilience measures – like air brick covers, flood doors and flood resistant paint – and measures to tackle the risks from surface water flooding, are also included in the plans.

Sir Greg said: “Both flooding and coastal erosion can devastate communities, so we must put better protections in place to tackle it.

“The latest announcement will help to deliver on this by boosting the design and construction of flood alleviation schemes and put extra measures in place to protect homes from flooding and coastal erosion.

“Although this will improve the situation, more still needs to be done to guard homes, families and our farmland from the devastating impact of flooding.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Environment Secretary George Eustice MP said: “The tragic recent events in Germany and Belgium serve as a sobering reminder of how devastating flooding can be.

“We are standing by communities and will bolster defences against flooding across England with many thousands more properties better protected by 2027.

“It’s important we take action right across the system. Our comprehensive plan will achieve this by tightening planning procedures, helping more people access insurance and making homes more resilient to flooding.”