EFRA Report on Flooding   The Climate Change Committee (CCC) has listed flooding and coastal change as one of the greatest climate change risks for the UK, both now and in the future.1 Over 5.2 million homes and businesses in England are at risk from flooding, according to the Environment Agency, with levels of risk ranging from “very low” to “high”.2 Properties are at risk from a number of types of flooding:

• Rivers (fluvial flooding) and the sea: in 2018–19, 2.5 million properties were at risk, with 200,000 at high risk (that is, a greater than 3.3% chance of flooding in any given year).
• Flooding caused by rainwater not draining away (surface water flooding): in 2018–19, 3.2 million properties were at risk, with 324,000 at high risk.
• Water rising under the ground (groundwater flooding): in 2018–19, between 122,000 and 290,000 properties were at risk.

The increasing frequency of severe weather was demonstrated in the widespread flooding that occurred over the autumn and winter of 2019–20. Over 4,600 properties were flooded across England due to heavy rainfall and the impacts of Storms Ciara and Dennis. The Association of British Insurers (ABI) said that insurers expected to pay out over £543 million following Storms Ciara, Dennis and Jorge (including £305 million relating to flooded property claims).5 3. In the aftermath of these events, we launched an inquiry into flooding on 4 March 2020. During the course of our inquiry, the Government published a new Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Policy Statement in July 2020, which it described as “the most significant ramping up of flood policies for a decade”.6 This coincided with the Environment Agency’s (EA) publication of an updated National Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategy, replacing a previous strategy from 2011.7

The Committee recommendations are:

1. The Government should provide greater certainty about its long-term objective for flood resilience and how it aligns to climate change.
2. The Government has committed to doubling capital investment in flood risk management, but it is critical that this not wasted by failing to maintain existing defences.
3. There is an absence of support for the long-term recovery of communities in the aftermath of a flood.
4. The Government must provide leadership to local authorities facing potentially significant increases in future flood risk due to the changing climate.
5. The current approach to promoting sustainable drainage systems, coupled with the persistence of the automatic right to connect surface water drainage, flooding to the public sewer, is not working.
6. The Government needs to explain how it will ensure a catchment-based approach to incentivising natural flood management.
7. Meaningful engagement with local communities on decisions about flood risk brings practical benefits.

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