Building long-term coastal resilience across England

A transformative £200m program to improve the resilience of communities at risk of flooding and coastal change across England has been opened today.

Through the government’s new Flood and Coastal Resilience Innovation Program, managed by the Environment Agency, 25 areas will be selected to pilot new and creative approaches to improve resilience to flooding and coastal change.

Lead Local Flood Authorities (LLFAs) and Coast Protection Authorities (CPAs) are being invited to express an interest in becoming one of these areas, with a deadline of 15 January 2021.

Each area will receive approximately £6m between 2021 and 2027.

The funding is separate and in addition to the £5.2bn program of investment in flood and sea defenses announced by the government in the Budget in March.

Also, areas will be selected based on a range of criteria, including repeated significant flooding in the past. The rest of the money will support other flooding and coastal resilience activities including the development of long-term investment pathways in the Thames and Humber Estuaries, Yorkshire and the Severn Valley.

Environment Minister, Rebecca Pow, said: “The impact of flooding can be devastating, and even more so for those who have suffered repeatedly. Our ambitious new Flood and Coastal Resilience Innovation Programme will help communities test different approaches to become more resilient to flooding and coastal change alongside our record investment to build and maintain our flood defences.

“This funding will not only help to build long-term resilience in those 25 areas, but the evidence and learning from those projects will be used to inform future approaches to, and investments in, flood and coastal erosion risk management across the country.”

The funding can be used for projects to improve resilience to flooding and coastal erosion.

The opening of the Flood and Coastal Resilience Innovation Program coincides with the launch of the Environment Agency’s Flood Action Week (9 – 15 November), a public awareness campaign aimed at informing people in at-risk areas of what to do in the event of a flood.