I congratulate the hon. Member on securing this debate and on raising these very important issues, which I will endeavour to address in the time remaining.
Protecting communities, homes, businesses and farmland from flooding is a priority for this Government, and I am delighted to hear that Heighington Millfield academy students are now safely back at school. I am sure that there has been a lot of disruption, particularly for those taking public exams. I am grateful to the hon. Member for her generous comments about the Department for Education, DEFRA and EA officials who have been working at pace to minimise the impact, and I pay tribute to all the people involved in that—not least the parents and the students themselves. I am very pleased to hear that there are flood-resilient repairs, and I am interested in ways in which nature-based planting around the school can potentially help with flood mitigation in the future.
May I say how incredibly disappointed I am to hear that the Reform-led county council in Lincolnshire has taken the very short-sighted and unwelcome decision to abolish the flood risk and flood protection committee? This shows the danger of pandering to reactionary rhetoric and then leaving local homes and local communities unprotected. I shall be watching the council very closely to ensure that it is fulfilling its duties under the Flood and Water Management Act 2010.
I am aware that the hon. Member’s constituency has been badly affected by flooding from Storms Babet and Henk during the winter of 2023-24. Sadly, more were flooded this January after heavy rainfall, and my thoughts are with those affected. As the former MP for Wakefield, I had 1,000 properties flooded in 2007, and I can tell her that the psychological impact on residents is very long lasting. I totally understand her desire to raise these matters on behalf of her constituents and the local communities she serves.
Engagement and collaboration are a key component of managing and mitigating flood risk, and I am pleased to hear that the hon. Member is in contact with the Environment Agency on these matters. I can confirm that her constituency is receiving £9.3 million from the Government’s flood investment programme this financial year, which is funding the repair and maintenance, as she said, of a number of crucial flood defences. As she mentioned Lincolnshire’s section 19 reports, I can say that officials tell me that they have been completed and that any decisions arising from them will take place in future funding years.
Work has started this month on phase 1 of the Lower Witham flood resilience project, which will support embankment assets. Phase 2 of the project, which is planned, will bring further investment in sustaining legacy assets while implementing adaptation measures to improve the resilience of the area to flooding.
The Environment Agency is working with partners to build an up-to-date model of the Lower Witham, to be completed this financial year, and it will be used to test future adaptive approaches and accurately assess flood risk. I will ask the Minister for Water and Flooding, my hon. Friend the Member for Kingston upon Hull West and Haltemprice (Emma Hardy), to write to the hon. Member if there are any things that we cannot get through in the time available.
The River Slea flood resilience project is exploring a new, more sustainable solution to flood risk management in Sleaford. Public engagement has been undertaken with organisations and other stakeholders on this project. Ruskington is also being considered for a flood resilience project.
As set out by the Chancellor this week, in order to support the Government’s growth mission and plan for change, we are investing a record £4.2 billion over the next three years, from April 2026, to build new flood defences and to maintain and repair existing ones across the country. That is £1.4 billion each year. This is a 5% increase in our annual average investment compared with our existing spend of £2.65 billion over the past two years—2024-25 and 2025-26.
Our current investment programme is supporting 1,000 projects, which will help to protect 52,000 homes and businesses by March 2026. And through essential maintenance, a further 14,500 properties will have their expected level of protection maintained or restored. That is a total of 66,500 properties that will benefit, helping to secure jobs, deliver growth and protect against economic damage.
We have also unlocked £140 million from this investment to get 29 stalled projects moving. This is targeted at schemes that were ready to go, so that protection can be delivered faster for those who need it the most, and we have published the full list of funded schemes for this financial year.
The Government inherited flood assets in their poorest condition on record following years of under-investment, leaving 3,000 of the Environment Agency’s 38,000 key flood defence assets below the condition required. This Government are taking decisive action to fix the foundations, giving communities confidence that flood defences will protect them.
We are prioritising, over the current two spending years from 2024-25 and 2025-26, £108 million in repairing and restoring those critical assets. Last year, £36 million focused on damage from recent storms and flooding, with a further £72 million this year to ensure that defences are resilient, reliable and ready. In addition, environmental land management schemes present a valuable opportunity for supporting flooding and coastal erosion risk management, through direct funding of actions and providing a revenue stream to support landowners working with EA capital schemes, and through indirect actions that will lead to reduced watercourse maintenance requirements, increasing the lifespan of our assets.
The hon. Lady mentioned red diesel and I just wanted to make a quick point on that. The previous Government removed most red diesel entitlements from April 2022, but there are some exceptions. Risk management authorities, which include internal drainage boards, may use red diesel for drainage ditch clearance, including work relating to agriculture, horticulture and forestry. I hope that is a useful clarification.
Watercourse management responsibilities fall to different bodies. Riparian landowners whose land adjoins a watercourse, such as a drainage ditch, are required to keep those watercourses clear of anything that could be an obstruction. The EA has permissive powers to work on the main rivers, and lead local flood authorities or internal drainage boards have permissive powers for ordinary watercourses. The EA focuses on those activities that will achieve the greatest benefit in terms of protecting people and property from flooding. That, of course, can include dredging and clearing channels. In Lincolnshire, that often involves using the local IDBs.
The EA spends an average of £40 million a year on these activities to improve water flow in around 3,000 km of main rivers. The need for dredging is assessed on a location-by-location basis. The EA will work with local communities, IDBs and through public sector co-operation agreements to assess whether dredging is technically achievable and cost-effective, ensuring that it does not significantly increase flood risk downstream and that it is environmentally acceptable.
The hon. Lady asked about future funding reforms. The current approach to floods funding, introduced by a previous Government in 2011, neglects more innovative approaches. To address that, we have reviewed our approach and last week launched a consultation on proposals to reform the way we allocate funding to flood schemes. Our proposals will make it simpler for all risk management authorities to calculate their funding, benefiting all councils, including those that have less resource to commit to the application process. This should speed up the delivery of vital schemes and ensure that money is distributed more effectively across the country, including for rural and coastal communities, and poorer communities that have previously struggled to secure funding.
We will make it easier to invest in natural flood management schemes that also give benefits for nature, water resources and the fight against climate change. We are considering how communities can make better use of property flood resilience measures. Changes to the current approach to floods funding will be launched in time for the new floods investment programme, which will start in April 2026. The consultation is open to all and we encourage everyone with an interest to respond and help shape our future approach to flood funding.
This issue is at the very top of the Secretary of State’s priorities, which is why we set up a flood resilience taskforce to provide oversight of national and local flood resilience and preparedness. That taskforce represents a new approach that brings together representatives from national, regional and local government, the devolved Administrations, the emergency services, charities and environmental interest groups. We need to know what works and we are learning where we need to make changes. We have established action groups led by members to deliver progress on areas, including flood warnings, awareness of recovery and insurance schemes.
The Government fully support the vital role that internal drainage boards play in managing water and flood risk and in protecting the environment.