The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has announced two new funds to help tackle cases of repeated flooding and air pollution respectively.
Repeated flooding
A new ring-fenced £100 million Frequently Flooded Allowance will improve access to public funding for these communities, which are often smaller areas requiring more complex flood schemes, meaning that community-wide defences are not always viable.
The funding will be targeted at eligible communities where 10 or more properties have flooded twice or more in the last 10 years, helping to both accelerate existing projects and deliver new ones. It is anticipated around 80 schemes will receive support over the next four years.
This allowance will be part of the Government’s current programme of investment in flood and coastal defences. The Government announced in 2020 that the amount invested in flood and coastal erosion schemes would be doubled in England to £5.2 billion between 2021 and 2027, providing around 2,000 flood defences. This year, £700 million is being invested from that pot and will better protect 35,000 properties, bringing the cumulative total for the first two years of the six-year programme to more than 65,000.
“This isn’t just about insurance, it’s about the mental health and well-being of residents getting their lives back together again after what can be months of drying out,” said David Kempster, Marketing Director at Groundsure. Urging caution, however, Kempster said that the real question is: “will this go far enough?” He continued:
“Homes could be flooded twice that are nowhere near a river and aren’t economic enough to have flood defences even if they are. We have also seen the cancellation of investment in major flood alleviation schemes such as in Caversham, so this can’t be a sticking plaster for the gaps that are opening up due to funding cuts.”
Advanced environmental searches do, therefore, remain imperative, said Kempster:
“From a conveyancing perspective, the likelihood and frequency of flooding is opaque information at best from the seller in the TA6. So, it is essential that a more detailed environmental search is done on both past extents of flooding through recorded events, but also accounting for forward climate-based modelling.”
Environment Secretary George Eustice said of the fund:
“Our new Frequently Flooded Allowance will boost schemes in areas which are hit repeatedly and reduce the risk of flooding in the future.
This new allowance will provide extra support for these areas and forms part of our major £5.2 billion effort to build around 2,000 flood schemes by 2027 and level-up defences across the country.”
Sir James Bevan, Chief Executive of the Environment Agency, said:
“The impacts of climate change are becoming all too familiar both at home and around the world.
While we cannot prevent all flooding, this allowance will help better protect homes and businesses at risk from repeated incidents.
Communities will be selected through the Environment Agency’s annual refresh of the £5.2 billion capital programme – which sets out the latest information on each project in the programme and the amount of grant-in-aid allocated to that project in that year.”
Air Quality Grants
The government’s £7 million pot for Air Quality Grants helps councils develop and implement measures to benefit schools, businesses and communities and reduce the impact of air pollution on people’s health.
Local authorities across the country can bid for a portion of the fund for a wide range of projects to improve air quality and create cleaner and healthier environments. The criteria for this year’s grant period will prioritise three areas:
Projects that reduce air pollution where there are nitrogen dioxide (NO2) exceedances
Projects focusing on improving public knowledge and information about air quality, including steps individuals can take to reduce their exposure to air pollution
Projects that include measures to deal with particulate matter, which is the pollutant most harmful to human health
These projects and many others funded by the grant scheme have contributed to the significant improvement in air quality seen in the UK in recent decades. Since 2010, levels of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) – particles or liquid droplets in the air which present the greatest risk to public health – have reduced by 11% while emissions of nitrogen oxides have fallen by 32% and are at their lowest level since records began.
Environment Minister Steve Double said:
“Air quality has improved significantly since 2010 but we know that it remains the biggest environmental risk to public health.
This is why we have today opened applications for millions of pounds worth of additional funding for local authorities so they can take the action needed to cut air pollution and improve air quality awareness in their areas.
Local authorities know their areas best, and we are excited to receive their ideas for innovative measures which will reduce the impact of air pollution on the health of their communities.”
Applications for the grant opened Tuesday 26th July and close on Friday 23rd September.
