£120 million to tackle flooding

The Government is providing £120 million in new funding will speed up the delivery of flood defences that could protect up to 60,000 homes.

The Chief Secretary to the Treasury has announced the today. £60 million of the funding will be targeted at areas where flood defences can unlock new opportunities for development and growth. Investment will be focused on areas where it will have the greatest economic impact. A further £60 million will help speed up the delivery of up to 50 flood defence schemes already in train and prioritised by the Environment Agency.

In total, Defra estimates that this will support schemes which could improve flood protection for up to 60,000 homes and achieve up to £1 billion ofeconomic benefits. This additional funding comes on top of over £2 billion already set aside to tackle flood and coastal erosion risks over the course of the Spending Review. This Government is already on course to deliver better protection to around 145,000 homes by March 2015.

Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, is visiting Leeds today, where the commercial and industrial riverside area is regularly threatened by floods, holding back business growth and development. New defences in Leeds would protect 250 businesses employing over 100,000 people and over 3,100 homes. The Environment Agency have worked closely with Leeds City Council and other areas in developing the Leeds Flood Alleviation scheme and, provided the expected contributions can befound, it is expected these schemes will be near the top of the list of those benefiting.

Other potential projects which could benefit from this additional funding include:

• Lower Don Valley in Sheffield: this £11 million scheme would help protect 300 businesses, employing 15,000 jobs in the city’s industrial heartland which experienced severe flooding in 2007.