More details have been announced about flood prevention funding from the government. Thanks to an additional £16m for internal drainage boards (IDBs), more than 400,000ha will receive additional protection, alongside around 91,000 homes and businesses.
The funding will go towards helping IDBs with operational expenses, including bankrolling pumping station repairs following the winter storms of 2023/24. It will also enable further investment in assets and waterways to ensure that they are fit for the future.
Floods Minister Emma Hardy said: “Flooding can take a devastating toll on farmers and rural communities. This additional funding will ensure rural flood assets are more resilient or fully replaced, putting IDBs on a firm footing to deliver their vital work on flood and water management for years to come.
“Thousands of properties and tens of thousands of hectares of farmland are already seeing their flood resilience improved as part of the Government’s Plan for Change and today’s further investment will help support our farmers further.”
Funds will be distributed by the Environment Agency by the end of April.
A £1.3 million project to install four new pumps at Marshfield and Lapperditch pumping stations in the Lower Severn catchment near Gloucester has just been completed, meaning the stations will be able to operate for at least another 25 years.
The new pumps also support River Severn flood defences, 12 kilometres of roads, and fish and eels, as well as reducing the amount of time farmland in the area spends underwater.
Elsewhere, funding has also been used to repair flood embankments, desilt drainage ditches, install telemetry and water control structures for remote operation, and improve fish and eel passages.