The Government and Environment Agency need to answer key questions on coastal flooding, coastal erosion and climate change

The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee has issued an Interim Report from its inquiry into coastal flooding, coastal erosion and climate change. It is being published in anticipation of the dissolution of Parliament for an early General Election which will prevent the Committee completing its inquiry. Key questions from the Committee’s report need answering.

The Government and Environment Agency should explain:

·       How national policies and strategy on flood and coastal erosion risk management, funding, and cost benefit analysis methodologies, are going to change, including the level of priority placed on protecting residential properties;

·       How clear national and local leadership will be provided for adaptation;

·       How to ensure meaningful long-term engagement with the communities affected by coastal change is at the centre of local strategies so that wherever possible local approaches to adaptation have the consent and support of the people affected; and 

·       How national planning guidance will promote wider uptake of "rollback" measures to support adaptation.

The Government should explain how the repeated cycle of cuts to funding to below sustainable levels, which are then reversed only after major flood events, will be ended and prevented from re-occurring. It should also explain how it intends to fund adaptation to coastal changes and sea-level rise.

The Environment Agency should provide a timetable for the revision of individual Shoreline Management Plans, to enable communities and landowners to plan for the future.

The Government should demonstrate its seriousness about attracting private sector funding and how it will reverse the apparent stalling of private sector contributions under the Partnership Funding model, and how it intends to strengthen the system including the use of tax incentives for private investment.

Chair of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee Neil Parish MP said:

“Coastal communities, businesses and landowners need to be meaningfully engaged about how the coast is likely to change and how it may affect them. 

“They must be kept fully informed about how and when management of the coast, under local Shoreline Management Plans, may change, to help them plan for the future. They need certainty. If coastal erosion or flooding means coastal communities have to adapt, they need to be provided with the proper support to do so.

“Funding is a key issue. There needs to be much more clarity about how the Government will fund coastal adaptation. The Government also needs to show it is really serious about attracting more funding from the private sector through its model of Partnership Funding, such as by using better tax incentives which can help turnaround the fall in contributions from the private sector.”