The Environment Agency has published its latest annual corporate report summarising flood and coastal erosion risk management (FCERM) work carried out by risk management authorities (RMA) in England for the period 1st April 2023 to 31st March 2024.
The RMAs consist of the following organisations:
Environment Agency
- lead local flood authorities (LLFAs)
- district councils (where there is no unitary authority)
- internal drainage boards (IDBs)
- water and sewerage companies
- highways authorities
The report covers an extensive range of issues and activities, including:
- surface water management
- digital technology
- water companies’ contribution to reducing risk
- flood risk warnings
- property flood resilience
- planning applications
- catchment sensitive farming
- natural flood management
- adaption and resilience
Setting the year in context, April 2023 to March 2024 saw wet, windy and stormy weather across England - the country experienced 13 named storms, compared to just 1 in 2022 to 2023 and 7 in 2021 to 2022.
Overall, England has experienced in wettest 18-month period since records began in 1836. Met office figures show that just under 1,700 mm of rain fell from October 2022 to March 2024.
Flood defences across the country have protected nearly 250,000 properties. However, the weather resulted in more than 5,000 properties flooding, was mainly due to storms Babet, Ciaran, Henk and Gerrit.
Impacts of named storms
The report sets out the impacts and related EA flood defence activities as follows:
Storm Babet – 18 to 21 October 2023
Extensive flooding resulted in more than 750 flood warnings and alerts being issued. This included 5 severe warnings in the areas at highest risk.
The EA also deployed:
- more than a kilometre of demountable barriers
- 700m of temporary barriers
- high volume pumps and smaller pumps to remove water from flooded areas
Storm Ciarán – 1 to 3 November 2023
Storm Ciarán caused major disruption across the south of England:
- the port of Dover was temporarily closed
- ferry services were cancelled
- flights and rail services were cancelled
- hundreds of schools were shut
- almost 150,000 homes were left without power
Large waves affected the South Coast and a major incident was declared in Hampshire and on the Isle of Wight.
Around 300 properties flooded because of Storm Ciarán. Nearly 43,000 properties were protected by existing flood defences.
The EA carried out a range of activities to reduce the impact of the storm, including:
- installing temporary flood barriers in Exeter as part of the Exeter flood defence scheme
- operating flood gates
- replacing demountable barrier beams at Bewdley, Worcestershire
- using specialist equipment to check flow rates of the River Wey in Surrey
Storm Gerrit (27 to 28 December 2023) and Storm Henk (2 January 2024)
Storms Gerrit and Henk were the 7th and 8th named storms of the 2023 to 2024 season. Parts of the country had a month’s worth of rain in the first 4 days of January. Several river systems saw record levels or close to record levels, including the Rivers Trent, Thames, Severn and Avon.
The EA carried out a range of activities to manage the impacts of the flooding including:
- pumping water away from affected areas in Nottinghamshire and Berkshire
- deploying demountable defences along the River Severn in Bewdley
Asset management and investment in FCERM
The current 6-year programme of FCERM projects runs from 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2027. April 2023 to March 2024 is the third year of this programme.
The finance figures included in the report may change subject to the completion of the NAO audit of the Environment Agency’s Annual Report and Accounts. This is due in October 2024. We will update the report once the audit has finished.
There are around 245,000 assets that have a FCERM purpose in England - just over 240,000 manage risk from flooding and the remainder manage coastal erosion risk.
Of the flood risk management assets:
- around 160,000 are third party assets maintained by riparian owners who own the land next to the river – 96,000 of these are in high consequence systems
- around 80,000 are managed by the Environment Agency – 38,000 of these are in high consequence systems
High consequence systems are those where the assets protect a high concentration of properties. A system is where several different types of flood defences work together to reduce risk and better protect an area.
The EA allocated £197.4 million towards maintaining FCERM assets between April 2023 and March 2024. The Agency inspects and reports on 195,000 flood risk management assets, including its own and third-party assets.
Inspection frequency is based on risk and varies from 6 months to 5 years, meaning not all assets are inspected each year. At the start of 2023 the EA planned to carry out 107,000 inspections. Since the October 2023 storms, the EA has carried out an extra 68,000 inspections to check the condition of its assets.
Between April 2023 and March 2024, government invested £864 million of capital funding in FCERM.
This included spend on:
- projects in 2023 to 2024 that better protect properties
- the development of future projects
- the flood and coastal resilience innovation programme
Of the £864 million, £119 million was spent by other RMAs on FCERM projects. Other RMAs have also spent £11 million of local levy funding. Local levy funding is spent on local priority flood and coastal erosion projects. It is managed by RFCCs.
CERM capital investment from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024 was made up of £864 million from central government, £31 million via the local levy (EA & other RMA) and £23 million from other sources.
The table below shows government investment and properties protected in FCERM by Environment Agency area from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024 in £ millions
Looking ahead beyond March 2024
The report also sets out section lists some of the activities that the EA, government and other RMAs will be carrying out beyond March 2024, including:
National Flood Risk Assessment (NaFRA2)
The Environment Agency is developing a new National Flood Risk Assessment (NaFRA2) and will publish a “National assessment of flood and coastal erosion risk in England 2024’ report in December 2024. The report will identify national trends in terms of the source and characteristics of flood risk, the distribution of risk across England, and the potential for these to change in the future.
Nafra2 will:
- provide significant improvements including detail not currently available such as flood depth and climate change scenario information
- form a new baseline assessment of flood risk in England including updated estimates of properties at risk and average anticipated economic impacts of flooding
The NaFRA2 data will be published in early 2025.
Following that, the EA is planning regular updates and will use the capabilities of NaFRA2 to help determine how flood risk is changing, including the impact of investment in flood resilience.
NCERM2
The EA is currently updating the full National Coastal Erosion Risk Map (NCERM) dataset based on a further 10 years of coastal monitoring data and the latest climate change evidence.
The updated NCERM will provide the best available information on coastal erosion risk. It will be used by coastal risk management authorities and the Environment Agency to inform coastal management investment and local planning decisions.
The EA plans to:
- publish a summary of the updated NCERM data in the “National assessment of flood and coastal erosion risk in England 2024” report in December 2024.
- at the same time, we will also publish the updated NCERM on SMP Explorer in December 2024
Review of Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Assets
The review of statutory powers and responsibilities to map, monitor, inspect and maintain all assets will be published in 2024. It covered coastal, fluvial, and surface water assets and examined riparian ownership. The aim was to make sure that responsibilities are clear and that there are effective powers in place.
Click here to access the report in full online
The Environment Agency is once again supporting Floodex UK, the leading sector event for the flood risk, sustainable drainage and water level management sector. Floodex takes place alongside the National Drainage Show and Waterways Management Show at ExCel, London on 27 and 28 November 2024. Click here for more information