The government had today published a policy statement on flood and coastal erosion risk management. This sets out a range of measures the government proposes taking to improve resilience to flood and coastal erosion risk.

In response to the statement, Chair of the National Infrastructure Commission Sir John Armitt said:

“This significant package to better prepare for flooding is welcome, and we are particularly pleased to see a shift towards complementing protection measures with steps to build community preparedness. We remain of the view that government should adopt a national flood resilience standard to give households and businesses confidence in the face of increasing flood risk, and to ensure no communities are left behind.

“We are hopeful that today’s plan marks the beginning of the end of reactive cycles of funding, and a fresh focus on levelling up flood resilience for communities across the UK.”

Alongside the statement the Secretary of State for the Environment published a letter to Sir John setting out the thinking behind the government’s policies to improve resilience to future flood and coastal erosion risk.

The Commission published its recommendations on addressing the impacts of flooding and improving flood resilience – including a new national standard for flood resilience – in the National Infrastructure Assessment in 2018, and more recently in the recent report Anticipate, React, Recover: Resilient infrastructure systems.