UK must spend £1.5bn a year on flood defences to protect public, experts warn | Flooding

Spending on flood defences will fall off a cliff edge next year, a report warns, calling on the chancellor to commit at least £1.5bn a year in the spending review to protect the economy and the public.

Nearly 2 million people across the UK are exposed to flooding every year, which is equivalent to the combined populations of Birmingham, Sheffield and Newcastle upon Tyne.

A third of England’s critical infrastructure – including roads, railways, energy networks and water systems – is also at risk, jeopardising national security.

The physical impact of flood events to property, buildings and transport infrastructure costs £2.4bn annually, economists say in the report by Public First.

But the knock-on impact continues for years to come. “Each year of flood events causes a decade-long downward pressure on the economy worth at least £6.1bn,” the report says.

Current spending on flood defences is £1.3bn, less than the £1.5bn recommended by the National Infrastructure Commission. The Labour government has no commitment beyond next year for flood defences and the affordability of future funding for flood defences has been under review by the Treasury since last year’s autumn statement.

Emma Howard Boyd, a visiting professor at the Grantham Research Institute and former chair of the Environment Agency, who spearheaded the report, said the chancellor had an opportunity in the spending review to lead where previous administrations had fallen short. “Given the condition of existing flood risk management assets has degraded further since the recommendation, it is likely that more than £1.5bn a year is required to sufficiently increase flood resilience in England.”

She added: “Every £1 invested in flood defences prevents around £8 of damage – £3 of that is a direct saving to the government because more than a third of the damage is to publicly owned infrastructure such as roads, railways, schools and hospitals.”

Flood risk is growing sharply across the country. Latest EA data warns 6.3m properties, residential homes and businesses are in areas at risk of flooding from rivers, seas and surface water.

By 2050, the impact of the climate crisis means one in four – about 8m – residential and business properties will be at risk of flooding.

Howard Boyd said that the government must ensure that, in fulfilling its target to build 1.5m new homes, it kept people safe. The Guardian has revealed more than 100,000 of the new properties are very likely to be built on the highest risk flood plains unless the government intervenes, putting people’s livelihoods and homes under threat. Leading insurance experts are calling for no more new homes to be built on flood plains.

The Public First research shows that the majority, 74%, of the top 10% of English constituencies facing the greatest vulnerability to flooding are Labour-held seats.

Polling for the report showed 66% of people do not think the country or their local area is prepared to deal with future flooding.