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<p>Following the recent flooding in South Yorkshire, the Environment Agency (EA) have
identified approximately £30 million of work on EA owned or maintained assets to return
the assets to their target condition and improve the resilience of those assets against
flooding. The EA have also identified an initial £50 million of work to make further
new improvements works to flood defences in South Yorkshire.</p><p> </p><p>In addition
to this and prior to the recent floods, the Environment Agency’s existing flood programme
in South Yorkshire from 2020/21 to 2026/27 showed that there is a need to invest £106
million to improve flood defences in the area. Under current partnership funding rules
this would generate £42 million of Grant in Aid funding from Defra and leave the remaining
balance to be found from other sources. The EA is aware that £44 million has potential
sources of funding identified but not yet secured, with the balance of around £19
million still to be identified.</p><p> </p><p>The Environment Agency is working with
all the South Yorkshire Lead Flood Authorities and Sheffield City Region in a catchment
wide approach to see how it can find the additional funding needed to secure a strong
flood programme and recover from the November 2019 floods. The EA looks forward to
strengthening these relationships as we work together to deliver increased flood resilience
through engineering and nature based solutions for communities across South Yorkshire.</p><p>
</p><p>Government is investing £2.6 billion between 2015 and 2021 to better protect
the country from flooding. This will attract more than £600 million of additional
investment through partnership contributions, funding over 1,000 flood defence schemes
to better protect 300,000 homes by 2021.</p><p> </p><p>The Government are looking
at current funding arrangements and an assessment of funding needs beyond 2021. We
will continue to work with the EA to consider future investment needs and Government’s
role in supporting the resilience of communities.</p>
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