Nearly 12 months on since unprecedented rainfall led to widespread flooding in England and parts of Wales, the Environment Agency has completed 34 flood defences to increase protection to more than 30,000 homes and signed up 73,000 more people to its free flood warning service.

The Environment Agency has also:·         Inspected 8500km of flood defences and spent £5m on repairing those few that were damaged, including in Upton, Sedgeberrow and Grimsby·         Worked with Local Resilience Forums in areas where surface water flooding happened, such as Sheffield, Hull and Doncaster, to help people better prepare for flooding

·         Spent £125m on investigations and maintenance along main rivers, including CCTV surveys along rivers in Gloucester to check for and clear blockages.

The recently completed £14m flood defence scheme in West Bridgford, Nottingham will protect 5636 properties, and a £13.1m scheme will now protect nearly 1000 properties in Carlisle, Cumbria. But according to the Environment Agency, a national effort involving local authorities, key utilities and government is still needed to address the vulnerability of critical infrastructure and tackle complex responsibilities for flooding from surface water drains.

Chief Executive Paul Leinster said the Environment Agency had faced a huge challenge in responding to last summer’s floods, as well as pressing ahead with its day-to-day flood risk management programme.

“We’ve had a challenging time over the past 12 months. Since the summer, we’ve seen two significant tidal surges – one in November and one in March – and high river levels in January, which again led to properties being threatened and flooded,” Paul Leinster said.

"Meanwhile, we’ve been pressing ahead with the job – building and maintaining flood defences and monitoring rainfall, rivers and sea conditions. And we’ve also carried out a review in each of the major places flooded, stepped up our flood awareness campaign, talked to local communities, and worked with Local Resilience Forums to help make sure the Environment Agency, other response partners and people are all prepared for potential flooding in the future.

“But it’s clear that urgent action is still needed on a number of issues. We hope the recently announced Floods Bill will quickly resolve the confusion over roles and responsibilities for surface water flooding. We believe that the Environment Agency in England should be given a strategic overview role for all types of flood risk – and when given clarity on this role and the role that local authorities will play, we can begin to advise on priorities for action.”

Paul Leinster said the Environment Agency had also identified the need for key utilities to put better protection of critical infrastructure higher on their list of priorities in the face of climate change.

But he said it was also essential that people took responsibility for protecting themselves and their properties, as highlighted in Sir Michael Pitt’s interim report into the floods of summer 2007. Forty-three percent of people living in a flood risk area still believe that they are not at risk of having their homes and properties flooded and too many people when they receive warnings don’t take appropriate action.

“Twelve months on since 56,000 homes and businesses were flooded, the message about flood risk is slowly getting through. An additional 73,000 people have signed up to receive the flood warning service since last summer – but still, less than half of those eligible to receive this free service have actually signed up,” Paul Leinster said.

“Around 30,000 homes are now better protected because we’ve completed another 34 flood defences since last summer. But flood defences can only do so much.

“We recognise the impact that last summer’s floods had on the country, those directly affected and the difficulties they’ve had since. We can’t stop the impacts of flooding so people need to check their risk, sign up to our Floodline Warnings Direct and take steps to prepare – especially with the likelihood of more frequent flooding as climate change occurs.”