Britain’s flood defences bolstered with an extra £5billion in the Budget after weeks of storm misery

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Britain’s flood defences bolstered with an extra £5billion in the Budget after the wettest February on record and storm misery cause widespread damage to homes and businesses

  • Chancellor confirms plan to add £5.2 billion by 2024 to flood defence funding
  • The move will help protect 336,000 properties in England after brutal winter
  • Last month has already been confirmed as the wettest February on record

By David Wilcock, Whitehall Correspondent For Mailonline and Jack Maidment, Deputy Political Editor For Mailonline

Published: | Updated:

Britain’s flood-battered regions are to receive a £5billion boost in the Budget as Boris Johnson’s Government ramps up its spending on high-profile infrastructure projects.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak used his first Budget – less than a month after taking over at the Treasury – to announce 336,000 properties in England will benefit from a doubling to £5.2 billion by 2026 of money for flood defences.

Mr Sunak said he would make a £120 million Winter Defence Fund available immediately to repair all defences damaged in the winter floods and £200 million directly to local communities to build flood resilience.

Investment in flood defences will double over the next six years to £5.2 billion. 

The announcement about the boost for flood-hit areas came after a winter in which the UK has been battered by some of the worst storms in recent memory.

Boris Johnson came under weeks of sustained political pressure to visit affected areas before finally going to Bewdley in Worcestershire at the weekend. 

Water cascades down the dam wall of Derwent Reservoir in Derbyshire on Wednesday morning after weeks of heavy rainfall

Chancellor Rishi Sunak used his first Budget – less than a month after taking over at the Treasury – to announce 336,000 properties in England will benefit from a doubling to £5.2 billion by 2024 of money for flood defences

Boris Johnson came under weeks of sustained political pressure to visit affected areas before finally going to Bewdley in Worcestershire at the weekend.

Boris Johnson came under weeks of sustained political pressure to visit affected areas before finally going to Bewdley in Worcestershire at the weekend.

The PM was met met with shouts of 'traitor' as he arrived on the banks of the River Severn, his first to an affected area since the extreme weather hit 22 days previously

The PM was met met with shouts of ‘traitor’ as he arrived on the banks of the River Severn, his first to an affected area since the extreme weather hit 22 days previously

Emma Howard Boyd, chairwoman of the Environment Agency said: ‘Flooding is an awful experience for people to go through and it is damaging to the economy.

Chancellor promises to plant ‘a forest larger than Birmingham’ to combat climate change

Rishi Sunak pledged to plant a forest ‘larger than Birmingham’ under Governbment plans to tackle climate change. 

He unveiled plans to plant 30,000 trees and restore 35,000 hectares of peat bog under a £640million scheme to boost carbon capture.

Other steps included including £800 million for developing hubs to help industry and the power sector capture and store their emissions. 

He also unveiled a £200 a tonne tax on plastic packaging that does not have at least 30 per cent recycled content and action to support ultra-low emissions vehicles.

The climate change levy businesses pay for gas will be increased and the tax break on polluting red diesel will be removed from 2022, except for uses in agriculture, fish farming, rail and domestic heating.   

‘This Government intends to be the first in history to leave our natural environment in a better state than we found it,’ he told MPs.

It comes in the run-up to key ‘Cop26’ climate talks in Glasgow in November, with pressure on the Government to show leadership on cutting emissions as countries are expected to up their ambition in tackling global warming.

But Ed Matthew, Cop26 director of the Climate Coalition said the failure of the Budget to put the UK on track to net zero emissions was a ‘major concern’ ahead of the UN talks.

‘A major hole was the failure to confirm funding to insulate and decarbonise homes, a Conservative manifesto pledge. £9 billion of energy efficiency funding seems to have gone missing in Budget action,’ he said.

‘If the UK cannot get its own house in order it is at risk of crashing the climate talks before they have begun.’ 

‘People want to be warned and protected, and where that isn’t possible they want to be able to get back to normal quickly.

‘Today’s £5.2 billion for flood protection is hugely significant to the resilience of the UK. 

‘As the climate emergency increases flood risk, this funding will allow us to invest in infrastructure and nature-based solutions so that otherwise vulnerable communities can both have better protection against flooding and be more resilient when it happens, so that they can continue to thrive.’ 

The UK is experiencing one of its wettest and warmest winters on record.

Across December, January and February, the country was deluged with an average total of 469.7mm of rain, according to Met Office figures.

Last month has already been confirmed as the wettest February on record, with an average of 209.1mm measured across the UK.

The country was lashed by three named storms over the course of the month, with Ciara, Dennis and finally Jorge.

The PM was met met with shouts of ‘traitor’ as he arrived on the banks of the River Severn on Sunday.

The town has been overwhelmed by flood water in recent weeks and properties and businesses have been inundated with water.

The trip was Mr Johnson’s first to an affected area since the extreme weather hit 22 days previously.

Regarding the new cash, Mr Sunak told Sky News at the weekend: ‘It’s going to pay for over 2000 different flood schemes around the country, it’s going to protect over 300,000 homes.

‘We have all either in our constituencies as MPs or watching on TV seeing the devastation wreaked on communities by flooding, this will make an enormous difference to people’s lives and I think it’s absolutely the right thing to do and this is something that wherever you live, whether you are in the south-west or the north-east, this impacts you, this investment will make a difference.’   

Last month has already been confirmed as the wettest February on record, with an average of 209.1mm measured across the UK causing flooding, including in Snaith in Yorkshire (pictured)

Last month has already been confirmed as the wettest February on record, with an average of 209.1mm measured across the UK causing flooding, including in Snaith in Yorkshire (pictured)