Welsh Government will prioritise investment on flood defense

The Welsh Government has said that it will seek to prioritise future investment in flood defences in order to protect homes and businesses.

The commitment was flagged up by Welsh Assembly Minister for Natural Resources and Food, Alun Davies yesterday as he provided more detail on the scope of the review into recent flood events that he ordered at the weekend.

Commenting that the changing climate means that extreme weather events are not going to go away, Alun Davis said:

"We are now looking at how we prioritise future investment in flood defences so we can not only protect homes and businesses but also maximise opportunities for economic regeneration and growth in the long term."

The Minister explained that the review, which will be led by Natural Resources Wales, will look at the flood events that hit Wales both at the beginning of December and again at the beginning of January, and will cover all coastal authorities in Wales.

The review will now be carried out in two phases. The first phase, to be completed by the end of January 2014, will be a swift review of the impacts of the flood events and will assess the state of Wales' coastal defences following the recent storms.

The second phase will look into the wider lessons learnt from the December and January flood events and the flood risk management in the affected areas. The intention, subject to further incidents of flooding, is that a report on the second phase will be available by April 2014.

Details can be seen here

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Taxonomy

• Flood Management
• Flood Modeling