Let’s hope this plan is watertight! Labour pledge £2bn to battle floods – with 52,000 properties to be protected by 2026
Flood defences will get a ‘record’ £2.65billion investment over the next two years, the Government will announce today.
The money will go to protect some 52,000 properties with new flood barriers by March 2026 and a further 14,500 with repairs to ‘creaking’ defences.
Winter storms in the past two years have caused widespread flooding.
Up to 1,000 projects will get funding, including £43million for Bridgewater in Somerset and £35million for Derby.
The Government blamed the Conservatives for defences falling into disrepair, claiming underinvestment has left 3,000 of the Environment Agency’s 38,000 important assets below the required condition.
Environment Secretary Steve Reed said: ‘We are investing a record £2.65billion to build and maintain flood defences to protect lives, homes and businesses from the dangers of flooding.’
The Government has blamed the Conservatives for letting defences fall into disrepair, claiming years of underinvestment, along with damaging storms, have left 3,000 of the Environment Agency’s 38,000 important assets at below the required condition.
Environment Secretary Steve Reed said: ‘The storms this winter have devastated lives and livelihoods.

The money will go to protect some 52,000 properties with new flood barriers by March 2026 (pictured: Flooding on Somerset Levels)

Stranded cars in floodwater on Derby Road in Hathern, Leicestershire in January 2021

Environment Secretary Steve Reed said: ‘We are investing a record £2.65billion to build and maintain flood defences to protect lives, homes and businesses from the dangers of flooding’

Motorists make their way through floodwater on Derby Road in Hathern, Leicestershire in January 2021
‘The role of any Government is to protect its citizens. Under our Plan for Change, we are investing a record £2.65 billion to build and maintenance flood defences to protect lives, homes and businesses from the dangers of flooding.’
Up to 1,000 projects will get funding, including £43 million for the Bridgewater tidal barrier flood defence scheme in Somerset, £35 million to protect Derby from flooding, £2 million for communities in Bewdley, West Midlands, and an additional £3.4 million for the Pool Bridge to Hunger Hill defences in Dorset.
Schemes to help properties be more resilient to flooding across Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire will receive £2.5 million.
Defra also announced essential maintenance to defences including £7 million for the Stallingborough sea defences along the Humber estuary and £3.8 million to improve protection from the sea in Pevensey Bay.
The Government is also looking at reforming the funding formula for allocating money to defences, warning it slows down delivery of schemes through a complex process and neglects innovative approaches.
The system has also faced criticism in the past that it favours schemes protecting richer families and areas.