Find your role and responsibilities: Thames Estuary 2100
Find out who is involved in Thames Estuary 2100 (TE2100) and their responsibilities.
Applies to England
Many people, businesses and organisations benefit from Thames Estuary 2100 (TE2100). Without it, the estuary and its growth would be under threat from rising sea levels. We all need to work together and play our part to adapt to the changes the future climate will bring.
These are the roles and responsibilities of some of the main organisations and groups involved in implementing Thames Estuary 2100.
Partners of the plan
Co-ownership of the Thames Estuary 2100 Plan is key to its delivery. Partners include:
- City of London
- Essex Wildlife Trust
- London Borough of Richmond upon Thames
- Mayor of London
- Met Office
- Port of London Authority
- Southern Regional Flood and Coastal Committee
- Thames Landscape Strategy
- Thames Regional Flood and Coastal Committee
- Transport for London
- University of Southampton
Acknowledgements
The Environment Agency would particularly like to acknowledge members of the Thames Estuary 2100 10-Year Review Advisory Group for their support and advice in the review and update of the plan:
- Baroness Brown of Cambridge, Julia King, Chair of the Committee of Climate Change’s Adaptation Sub-Committee (Chair)
- Andy Bord, CEO at Flood Re
- Kathryn Brown, Director of Climate Change and Evidence at The Wildlife Trusts
- Peter Daw, Head of Climate Change at Greater London Authority
- Dr Martin Hurst, Southern Regional Flood and Coastal Committee Chair
- Paul Illingworth, Project Director at Infrastructure and Projects Authority
- Samantha Kennedy, Director of Environment and Climate Action at Essex County Council
- Robin Mortimer, Chief Executive at Port of London Authority
- Olivia Shears, Senior Analyst, Climate Change Committee
The Environment Agency also thank all partners and members of the community who have helped to shape the updated plan.
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)
Defra is responsible for:
- national policy in England on flood and coastal erosion risk management
- funding for flood risk management authorities including the Environment Agency and local authorities.
Environment Agency
The Environment Agency takes a strategic overview of the management of all sources of flooding and coastal erosion. It manages the risk of flooding from main rivers, reservoirs, estuaries and the sea.
Within Thames Estuary 2100, the Environment Agency is responsible for:
- providing flood risk information to councils, developers, infrastructure providers and others
- maintaining 12% of flood defences (39% by length) in the estuary
- operating the major flood barriers in the estuary
- setting the deadlines for raising defences across the estuary
- monitoring change in the estuary
- reviewing and updating the Thames Estuary 2100 Plan
The Thames Estuary 2100 Asset Management programme (TEAM2100) is the Environment Agency’s first programme of works to maintain and adapt tidal defences in the Thames Estuary. This programme began in 2014 and will run for 10 years.
Councils
There are 27 councils in the Thames Estuary 2100 area. Each council has actions they need to take to implement Thames Estuary 2100. These include:
- working with communities to develop a vision for the riverside by 2030, using the riverside strategy approach
- embedding this vision in the statutory planning framework
- ensuring there is no inappropriate development in tidal flood risk areas
- maintaining and upgrading flood defences on land they own to the required standard
- securing land that may be required for future flood management
- improving understanding and management of multiple sources of flood risk
- raising community awareness of climate change and flood risk
- improving resilience of communities, businesses and infrastructure to the impacts of climate change and flooding
- producing emergency plans for flooding
- enhancing biodiversity and enabling nature recovery as part of flood risk management work
- reducing carbon emissions as part of any flood risk management work
- influencing developers to include riverside improvements in their proposals
Lead Local Flood Authorities (LLFA)
Under the Flood and Water Management Act (2010), some councils are a Lead Local Flood Authority (LLFA). LLFAs are responsible for managing the risk of flooding from:
- surface water (rain)
- groundwater
- some rivers
This means that they work closely with the Environment Agency and water companies to manage flood risk across the estuary. LLFAs set out how they will manage flood risk in a Local Flood Risk Management Strategy (LFRMS).
Local Planning Authorities (LPA)
District and unitary authority councils also act as Local Planning Authorities (LPA). LPAs are responsible for managing sustainable development under the National Planning Policy Framework.
A council sets out how it will create resilient growth in a Local Plan and should incorporate policies related to Thames Estuary 2100. Find out more about Local Plans.
In this way an LPA can require landowners or developers to raise or adapt flood defences as part of any planned development.
Developers
When development is taking place on the riverside, there is an opportunity to achieve Thames Estuary 2100 Plan outcomes. Developers proposing riverside development should take a riverside strategy approach and include:
- how they will raise flood defences to the required heights, or adapt them for future raising
- how defences will be set back from the river to allow access for maintenance
- how defences will be incorporated into the landscape
- how they will create better access to the river
- how they will create new habitat along the river
Doing this will reduce costs and disruption that would be caused by reconstructing defences in future.
Owners of riverside land (riparian owners)
If you own the land next to a watercourse, you could be responsible for the flood defences on that land. This could mean you have to maintain and upgrade the defences in the future.
Find out more about owning a watercourse
The Environment Agency works with riparian owners in the estuary to ensure flood defences are maintained to the right height and are kept in good condition. Riparian owners need permission from the Environment Agency to carry out necessary improvements to flood defences. These are known as Flood Risk Activity Permits. Some larger scale works will require planning permission from an LPA.
The Environment Agency also carry out regular inspections and may contact a riparian owner if a flood defence is in poor condition. If a flood defence is in very poor condition, the Environment Agency has powers (but not a duty) to repair it and can request a contribution towards the cost.
People who live in, work in and visit the Thames Estuary
Everyone who lives in, works in or visits the Thames Estuary should be aware of the flood defences and how they manage flood risk. In future, the risk of flooding in some areas will increase due to climate change. It’s important for everyone to:
- understand flood risk in their area
- sign up for flood warnings
Communities should be aware that existing flood defences will need to be raised in future because sea levels are rising.
Communities should also work with councils to have a say in what the future of their riverside looks like, as part of the riverside strategy approach.
Organisations will work together to help communities to become more resilient to flooding in the Thames Estuary.
Strategic partners
There are other organisations in the Thames Estuary that have roles and responsibilities to realise the outcomes of this Plan. These include:
- Greater London Authority – who have a statutory role in placemaking
- Port of London Authority – who manage navigation on the Thames and have responsibility for the ports
- Regional Flood and Coastal Committees – who determine how and where Flood Defence Grant in Aid is invested
- Thames Estuary Growth Board – who were established to turn the estuary’s potential into green growth
- water companies – who are a risk management authority responsible for managing flooding from sewers and drainage systems
- infrastructure providers – who are responsible for ensuring their assets are resilient to future flood risk
Network Rail
Network Rail should work with councils and the Environment Agency to ensure transport infrastructure in Essex and Kent is resilient to increasing flood risk. This will support growth in the outer estuary.
Case studies
Find out how our partners are helping to implement the Thames Estuary 2100 Plan.
Updates to this page
Last updated 16 May 2023 + show all updates
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Updated the page with a new section titled 'Partners of the plan'.
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First published.