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Wednesday, 10 October 2012 08:05

£10m of further investment in flood protection in Wales

The Welsh Government has said it will learn lessons from this summer’s flood events and is increasing its investment in flood defences by a further £10 million.

Environment Minister, John Griffiths made a statement in Plenary about the events that had led to the summer’s severe flooding in Ceredigion and Gwynedd and the work that had taken place since to ensure the Welsh Government and relevant authorities are doing all they can to minimise the impact of future events on Welsh homes and businesses.

The Minister said:

"At the beginning of June Wales experienced one of its worst flood events when over 100mm of rain fell across Ceredigion in just 24 hours. This resulted in 127 properties and 248 caravans being flooded and caused problems with reservoirs which necessitated the precautionary evacuation of the village in Pennal.”

The Minister said that there were always lessons to be learned when planning, response and recovery arrangements were tested. He confirmed that a number of post incident reports had been produced and referred specifically to an Environment Agency report, which contains 11 recommendations aimed at ensuring better flood awareness at a local level, particularly in hard to reach and more vulnerable communities.

The recommendations highlighted the need to utilise technical developments to improve flood warning capabilities and emphasised the need for effective engagement between the Environment Agency and communities and partner organisations. The Minister said that the Welsh Government would work with a range of organisations to implement the recommendations.

The Minister also demonstrated his continued commitment to this issue by confirming an extra £10 million had been allocated in the Draft Budget for 2013-14 to strengthen flood defences in Wales. He said:

“We can never stop or fully prevent flooding but we can manage the risks and reduce the consequences.

“We were already investing over £140 million in flood and coastal erosion risk management over the life of this Assembly to reduce risk for over 7000 properties.

“And last week in spite of severe reductions in its capital budget allocation, the Welsh Government announced an additional £10 million for flood and coastal risk management over 2013/14 to 2014/15 taking our investment to over £150m. This money will pay for eight additional schemes in vulnerable communities. It is tangible evidence of our ongoing commitment to invest in order to protect Welsh homes and businesses."

Finance Minister Jane Hutt added:

“We have always said that we will do all we can to boost capital in the face of budget reductions – because we know this is vital to support economic growth and create jobs.

“As part of the Welsh Government’s Draft Budget for 2013-14 I announced an additional £175m in capital investment over the next two years to support strategically important projects throughout Wales.

“The additional £10million for flood and coastal risk management will make a real difference, by delivering longer term benefits for the economy and, vitally, protecting Welsh homes."

 

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