16 million funding allocated to help tackle surface water flooding

Local communities across England will benefit from £16 million funding to help them tackle surface water flooding, Environment Secretary Hilary Benn has announced. The list of named areas receiving a total of £9.7 million funding can be found at www.defra.gov.uk/environ/fcd/policy/surfacewaterdrainage.htm

A total of £9.7 million has been awarded to 77 local authorities for areas where the evidence shows that the risk and potential impact of surface water flooding could be highest.

Local authorities for all other areas will also be able to bid for a share of £5 million to help them deal with known local flooding problems.

Defra is also spending £1 million on making training, data and other tools available to help all local authorities manage flood risk.

Hilary Benn said: 'Local authorities have a crucial role to play in tackling flooding and it’s vital that they have the information, resources and skills they need.

'That’s why we’ve provided this money and we want to make sure it gets to where it’s most needed and where it can make the biggest difference - especially as we know that climate change will cause increased severe rainfall in future and bring with it an increased risk of surface water flooding.'

Defra will publish details of how local authorities can bid for the £5 million funding and the criteria on which bids will be assessed, in the next few weeks. Innovative proposals for tackling surface water flooding especially in rural areas, will be particularly welcomed.

The top 77 local authority areas where the consequences of surface water flooding are expected to be highest have been identified from new studies which model the effects of very severe rainfall. Such storms can occur anywhere and are expected to become more frequent in the future with climate change.