Flood defence spending 'insufficient', NAO warns
Roger Harrabin, BBC’s environment analyst, reports that the National Audit Office (NAO) has warned the Government that significant spending cuts to flood defence budgets in real terms has resulted in over half of the country’s key flood defences being maintained to a minimal standard. He highlights criticism aimed at lack of spending allocated to the never ending, “dull, piecemeal” processes of maintaining flood defences as opposed to the more tidy, headline grabbing capital projects that are easier to sell to the voting public.
This is despite Flooding Minister Dan Rogerson insisting that spending on flooding has increased in real terms to the tune of £3.2 billion in the course of the current parliament and the Environment Agency stating “We are on track to reduce flood risk to 165,000 properties between 2011 and 2015”.