The NFF is calling for a bigger, bolder and more sustainable approach to flood risk management. The current regime – FDGiA – is not fit for purpose and fails the people it should help.
The FDGiA is the central government fund for managing flood risk in England and provides funding for EA flood risk management studies and strategies along with local authority flood risk and coastal erosion management studies and projects.
The FDGiA criteria focuses on an economic assessment of costs and benefits. Many rural or smaller urban communities where there are fewer properties that flood will not be eligible. This is a failure of the system.
There are many communities that have not and will never match these criteria, leaving people with no hope for the future. Rural & inner-city areas often categorised as deprived, are victims of multiple floods which profoundly affect their health and wellbeing.
People repeatedly flooded and have to live with the threat of further flooding if a business case is not viable, at the NFF we believe it is unacceptable to allow people to continue living with such risks, no one should have to live a life of trauma where flood risk is a constant threat and always on their minds.
The NFF is calling for a fairer and more effective funding regime for flood risk communities
A regime:
- That is not weighted towards PFR but instead gives equal weight to catchment level and multi-intervention approaches that include capital projects.
- That gives more weight to repeat flooding and to smaller communities, both rural and urban
- That does not see value in purely economic terms but understands the human, social and carbon costs of flooding.
