Environment Agency funding fails to provide flood resilience Lincolnshire needs, argue councillors

In recent years, the county has faced multiple storms that have resulted in flooding. Storms Babet and Henk, in October 2023 and January 2024, are just two examples, together causing the flooding of more than 900 households, 13 breaches of main rivers, and hundreds of hectares of agricultural land being inundated.

A report compiled by a working group of members of Lincolnshire County Council’s Flood and Water Management Scrutiny Committee highlighted that, while Environment Agency staff work as well as they can with the resources available, the failure of government to ensure the agency’s flood risk and water management assets are properly resourced is putting residents, businesses, and farmland in Lincolnshire at an unacceptable and ever-increasing risk.

Furthermore, the Environment Agency’s funding mechanisms are focused on protecting homes at the expense of agricultural land.

During a meeting on Tuesday (February 18), chairman Tom Ashton (Conservative) stated: “We believe that residential properties are rightly given a high priority in terms of flood resilience funding, but agricultural land, which supports the nation’s food security, cannot be overlooked.

“Also, our main river systems need to be funded at a level where their design capacity can be maintained or, where necessary, improved.”

The recommendations of the report included that Lincolnshire County Council advise the government that the current funding arrangements for the Environment Agency’s flood risk management are insufficient and that the new Greater Lincolnshire Combined Authority be requested to urgently establish a working group to fully explore how devolution might provide Lincolnshire with the necessary powers and funding to more effectively manage the environment locally than is achievable under the existing model.

Councillor Ian Fleetwood (Conservative) insisted that whoever the county elects as the new mayor for Greater Lincolnshire following elections on May 1 should make the case with the Government.

“It needs to be reported back centrally and solidly to Westminster,” he said, pointing out that it may get “lost in the atmosphere” if left to MPs.

Councillor Stephen Bunney (Liberal Democrat) shared a similar view, claiming that the new mayoral authority has a “major role to play in this,” but also emphasised that parish and town councils need to realise they have a role to play in the event of flooding.

The committee also spoke about establishing a new type of body similar to the Somerset Rivers Authority. The authority, which was officially launched in 2015 as a response to the floods experienced in winter 2013/14, is a partnership of different bodies from across the region that works closely to tackle flooding problems.

Councillor Paula Ashleigh-Morris (Conservative) explained that she was originally from Somerset and that the new authority has the funding to dredge the River Parrett system, increasing its capacity in the event of heavy rainfall.

“If we could set up something like that for Lincolnshire, I think we could all retire happy,” she said.

Coun Ashton expanded on this, pointing out that Somerset had received £40 million over the past 10 years, which they might not have had if it weren’t for their rivers authority funding water injection dredging.

“It will not prevent every flood in Somerset, but it does give them an additional three days of capacity within the River Parrett system when it rains.”

A spokesperson for the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs highlighted that the government inherited an outdated funding formula for allocating money to proposed flood defences. Established in 2011, it says the existing formula slows down the delivery of new flood schemes through a complex application process and has resulted in projects with funding gaps.

They said: “The role of any government is to protect its citizens. Yet the government has inherited flood defences in their worst condition on record and an outdated funding formula for allocating money to building new ones.

“That is why we will launch a consultation in the coming months to review the existing formula, ensuring the challenges facing businesses and rural communities are adequately taken into account when delivering flood protection.

“Alongside this we are investing a record £2.65 billion over the next two years to build and maintain flood defences to protect lives, homes and businesses in Lincolnshire and across the country.”