Budget to double funding for flood defences

Wednesday’s statement by Rishi Sunak to be overshadowed by coronavirus outbreak

Chancellor Rishi Sunak is expected to announce a further £2.6bn for flood defences in Wednesday’s Budget, doubling the size of a government investment programme intended to protect hundreds of thousands of properties in England.

The funding comes in a Budget which Boris Johnson wanted to use to launch an infrastructure investment drive to “level up” all parts of the UK, but which is instead likely to be overshadowed by the need to respond to the coronavirus outbreak.

Mr Sunak is expected to release significant funds to bolster the economy, public services and business as the nation responds to what is expected soon to develop into an epidemic.

Plans to publish a “national infrastructure strategy” have been postponed, though Downing Street sources insisted that Wednesday’s statement will still include investments to draw a line under the decade-long recovery from the financial crisis and “lay the foundations for a decade of growth”, particularly in the “left behind” areas which switched to Conservatives for the first time in December.

The new spending on flood defences comes after the government came under fire when thousands of homes and businesses in the midlands, Yorkshire and Wales were inundated by storms Ciara and Dennis in February.

Mr Sunak will also announce a £120m Winter Defence Repair Fund to swiftly restore more than 300 flood-defence schemes which were damaged during the recent storms.

The new money for flood defences brings the government’s total to £5.2bn and will help build around 2,000 new schemes on rivers and coasts across all regions of England. Cash will also be made available to devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland for similar work.

The government estimates that 336,000 properties will benefit from better protection over the next six years and that the risk from flooding will be reduced by 11 per cent by 2027.

It builds on the existing funding programme, which has seen the highest levels of investment per property in the northeast and northwest and protected more than 100,000 properties from flooding over the winter.

The current £2.6bn programme comes to an end in 2021.

Rishi Sunak (Reuters)

Speaking ahead of his first Budget statement as chancellor, Mr Sunak said: “This Budget will be about delivering on our promises to the British people, and levelling up all parts of the UK is a big part of that.

“Communities up and down Britain have been hit hard by the floods this winter – so it is right that we invest to protect towns, families, and homes across the UK.”

Boris Johnson, the prime minister, faced criticism for failing to visit areas hit by floods last month, but insisted that he had been advised to stay away in order to avoid diverting emergency workers from their task.