£330 million for new flood defences in Kent, Hampshire & Sussex
New flood defences will benefit Kent, Hampshire and Sussex to the tune of over £330 million, the government has announced today.
Homes in Sandwich, Whitstable, Yalding and Shoreham-by-Sea will be better protected from floods thanks to an unprecedented six-year £2.3 billion flood defence programme.
The new flood defence scheme in Shoreham-by-Sea, just one of 163 schemes in Kent, Hampshire and Sussex getting the green light today, is worth over £26 million and will protect thousands of homes.
Some examples of the schemes funded in the first two year ‘construction’ phase in the area include:
- Middle Medway Strategy
- Broomhill Sands Tidal Defence
- Shoreham Adur Tidal Walls
- Portsea Island
Danny Alexander, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury said:
The south coast saw terrible flooding last winter, so I have earmarked £300m of flood defence spending for vulnerable areas throughout Kent, Hampshire and Sussex.
Investing £2.3 billion to support 1,400 schemes across the country will protect 300,000 homes from the north-east to the south-west. As well as ensuring people’s safety and peace of mind it will also bring over £30 billion of economic benefit, making it great value for money as part of this government’s drive for a stronger economy and a fairer society.
Environment Secretary Elizabeth Truss said:
Flood protection is vital and under our plans Kent, Sussex and Hampshire will be better protected by 163 defence schemes across the region, including in Yalding, bringing peace of mind to residents and businesses.
We are spending £3.2 billion in flood management and defences over the course of this parliament - half a billion pounds more than in the previous parliament. This, combined with the record level of investment in capital we have set out today, will improve protection to 465,000 homes and businesses by the end of the decade.
Environment Agency Chairman Sir Philip Dilley said:
Our priority is to do as much as we can with every pound of funding from government and local partners, we now expect to provide better flood protection to an additional 300,000 properties in England by the end of the decade.With one in six homes in England at risk of flooding, and recognising the risk of flooding can never be eliminated, we would also encourage people to take their own steps to prepare for flooding, for example by signing up to the Environment Agency’s free flood warning service.
This first ever long-term investment programme will protect over 60,000 properties in Kent, Hampshire and Sussex alone and save the national economy £2.7 billion by 2021. The lifetime benefits of this investment will be even higher at over £30bn. New schemes may also be added as the programme progresses.
Since the beginning of this parliament flood defence investment has improved protection to over 230,000 homes and over 580,000 acres of land. The new will protect at least another 300,000 homes in England by the end of the decade.
The investment programme was published alongside a new long term study from the Environment Agency which shows that the planned investment will reduce overall flood and coastal erosion risk in England.
To see the national picture, visit the interactive Google map here