The new taskforce met for the first time this week to discuss how they will speed up and co-ordinate flooding preparation and resilience between central government, local authorities and community responders, and emergency services.
Hosted by Defra Secretary Steve Reed, the taskforce brings together the Secretary of State and Floods Minister Emma Hardy with representatives from Defra, MHCLG, Home Office, Cabinet Office, the Environment Agency, the NFU, ADA, the Met Office, Local Resilience Forums, Mayoral Offices, and emergency responders, among others.
Key priorities for the group include identifying and protecting vulnerable areas, including championing the delivery of drainage systems, flood defences and natural flood management schemes in communities.
The taskforce also outlined its plans to take a long-term, strategic approach to the challenges of flooding, ensuring that funding for national infrastructure remains sustainable into the future.
Businesses in ‘dire need of support’
After attending the first meeting, NFU President Tom Bradshaw said it was “a positive start” and that bringing together a “vast array of organisations involved in flood risk management and response, as well as ministers from three departments and senior officials, to focus on assessing readiness and preparedness for flooding this winter, could be really valuable”.
“We hope it will enable faster and more effective coordination during flood events and help identify those vulnerable areas that need protection.
“Clearly, farmers are on the frontline of climate change and the extreme weather this brings is one of the main threats to UK food security and our ability to produce food with over 50% of our most fertile farmland on floodplains.
“The country has just experienced its wettest 18 months since records began leaving thousands of acres of productive farmland under water and many farm businesses in dire need of support.”
“We hope it will enable faster and more effective coordination during flood events and help identify those vulnerable areas that need protection.”
NFU President Tom Bradshaw
Tom said that while the meeting focused on longer-term strategy, farmers urgently need details of how the Farming Recovery Fund can help businesses recover from the “devasting impacts of the flooding over the past 12 months”.
The funding was first announced in January and the NFU has worked with the RPA and Defra to help develop the offer which has included feeding in examples of the challenges faced by our members.
Flooding is Defra priority
Defra Secretary Steve Reed said that flooding remains one of his “top 5 priorities – with preparedness and resilience for this autumn and winter is the clear focus for today’s meeting”.
“This taskforce will drive a robust review of preparedness for flooding before the start of the main flood season – and ensure it is improved continuously in the long-term,” he added.
The taskforce will meet four times a year and will cover all forms of flooding and provide a forum for Ministers to listen to feedback from both inside and outside government.
The Met Office confirmed that there is an increased probability of a wetter-than-average winter floods season. While the summer months were largely dry, it has been a wet September, with many areas (particularly in the west of England) having already received 100% of their average September rainfall. The outlook for October is unsettled.
