3 Maintenance of flood defences and
watercourses
30. The EA has powers to conduct maintenance
work on main rivers and the coast, with local authorities having
powers to carry out work on other watercourses and coastal erosion
protection assets, except for watercourses in Internal Drainage
Board (IDB) districts and public sewers (which are the responsibility
of IDBs and water companies respectively).
31. Maintenance is prioritised according to flood
risk, with 79% of the EA's £81 million revenue maintenance
budget for 2012-13 allocated to high-consequence systems.[71]
In March 2012 more than 98% of assets in high-consequence areas
were maintained at or above target condition.[72]
The EA spends £20 million a year on channel maintenance.[73]
32. The Association of Drainage Authorities (ADA)
criticised the EA's maintenance approaches. The EA's annual regional
revenue maintenance budget for 2010-11 was just over £100
million but was set to decrease to £60.7 million in 2014-15.
This was "significantly short of the investment required
to keep up with even the most essential works to keep our rivers
flowing". The ADA concluded that "in short, the Environment
Agency's maintenance budget will have nearly halved since the
turn of the decade. Yet this budget will have to stretch ever
further" with new capital investment in defences.[74]
33. The EA told us that future investment in
maintenance would continue to be prioritised to ensure that the
greatest possible overall outcome was achieved with the funding
available. Works fell into four categories with the top priority
being assets for which there was an economic case for maintenance
to reduce the risk from flooding to people and property.[75]
Nevertheless, the EA acknowledged that maintenance budgets were
on a "slightly reducing line".[76]
Lord Smith stated that asset management spend would equate to
£169 million in 2012-13, reducing to £146 million in
2013-14 and £136 million in 2014-15.[77]
He noted that there were some "pinch points" in specific
places such as on the Parrett and Tone rivers.[78]
He further noted that no additional revenue or operating funding
was being provided to match the new £120 million capital
funding announced in the Autumn Statement.[79]
34. Local authorities allocate funds to the maintenance
of ordinary water courses and coastal defences in their areas
according to local needs and priorities. In 2011-12, local authorities
spent £88.6 million on flood defence and land drainage.[80]
The LGA noted that councils worked locally with the EA and other
partners to find "long term sustainable solutions to the
withdrawal of maintenance activity" by the Environment Agency.
However, it stated that the EA "must ensure that its withdrawal
does not place additional cost burdens on councils and local taxpayers".[81]
35. The Secretary of State acknowledged that
some rural waterways had been allowed to get blocked up, flooding
agricultural land and eroding bridges and other assets. This needed
to be resolved.[82] However,
as noted above, only £20 million a year is spent on channel
maintenance, including dredging. On 27 June, the Secretary of
State informed us that an additional £5 million would be
provided for EA maintenance work.[83]
However, this represents only a fraction of the increase necessary
to counterbalance budget reductions of recent years. The EA's
revenue funding for 2014-15 is at the lowest level since 2007
and is some £50 million below 2010-11 levels.[84]
36. We are deeply concerned
at the decision to reduce funding for maintenance of flood defences
and watercourses which could leave communities exposed to the
threat of flooding despite having benefited from considerable
capital investment in flood defences. It is essential that adequate
revenue funding is provided to enable the Environment Agency to
conduct the necessary dredging and maintenance of watercourses
so as to minimise flood risk to local communities.
Role of Internal Drainage Boards
37. Internal Drainage Boards supervise water
level management of land within their district boundaries.[85]
The ADA told us that its members would welcome in principle the
maintenance of some main rivers being transferred to new and existing
IDB's, particularly where the river was maintained by an IDB prior
to its designation as a main river in the mid-2000s. However,
it urged that proper financial support be provided in the transitional
period to avoid management of sections of the main river network
becoming "piecemeal and disjointed".[86]
Further, a commensurate reduction in the precept paid to the EA
by IDBs undertaking this work was needed.[87]
The EA told us that if the IDBs were willing to do the work then
it was likely that the local flood committees would be willing
to consider this.[88]
38. We recommend that Internal
Drainage Boards which wish to undertake maintenance of local watercourses
be supported in doing so, including by enabling them to retain
the funding they currently provide to the Environment Agency for
these services.
39. Schedules of work for river clearance and
dredging have been shared with partners including IDBs in response
to the recommendation in the Pitt Report that the maintenance
work undertaken by the EA be made more transparent.[89]
The use of conservation volunteers should be encouraged. We endorse
this approach. We recommend
that the Environment Agency continues to provide Internal Drainage
Boards and local authorities with schedules of maintenance work
to enable effective co-ordination of such work. Information should
be published so that interested parties and the public are fully
informed on the activities being undertaken.
71 The Environment Agency classifies maintenance according
to the impact of flooding on people and property depending on
factors including land use, population, topography, and development
proposals. A 'high consequence' system is one where thousands
of people are at risk Back
72
Ev w11. See also Ev 106. Since March 2012 there has been a small
fall in asset condition as a result of extreme wet weather in
2012-13 and reductions in overall expenditure on maintaining and
replacing assets Back
73
Q 141. See also Ev 106. The EA estimated in 2012-13 that dredging
investment alone was between £10-20 million per year Back
74
Ev 76 Back
75
Environment Agency, Protocol for the maintenance of flood and
coastal risk management assets (England only), November 2011
Back
76
Q 94 Back
77
As above Back
78
Q 97 Back
79
Q 145 Back
80
Ev w11 Back
81
Ev 100 Back
82
Q 316 Back
83
Letter from Secretary of State to Anne McIntosh MP on the Spending
Review 2013, 27 June 2013 Back
84
HM Treasury, Spending Round 2013, June 2013, Cm 8639 Back
85
Internal Drainage Boards (IDBs) are independent statutory bodies
responsible for the land drainage of more than 1.2 million acres
of lowland England which comprise areas of special drainage need.
These bodies operate predominantly under the Land Drainage Act
1991 and have permissive powers to undertake work to secure drainage
and water level management of their districts. They may also undertake
flood defence works on ordinary watercourses (i.e. watercourses
other than 'main river') Back
86
Ev 77 Back
87
Q 58 Back
88
Q 95. The local committees referred to are the Regional Flood
and Coastal Committees. These have a duty to levy a precept on
IDBs to contribute towards maintaining the main river due to the
benefits that accrue to the Boards Back
89
Sir Michael Pitt, The Pitt Review: Lessons learnt from the
2007 summer floods, June 2008 Back
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