Flooding: Cooperation across government

Between December 2015 and January 2016 storms Desmond, Eva and Frank caused flooding in the north of England and Wales and parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland. In January the Government of the United Kingdom launched a National Flood Resilience Review to assess how the country can be better protected from future flooding. The aim of this report is to inform that Review.

This publication indicates that while there was national policy in place to plan for future flooding events, this did not always translate through the local level. The Environmental Audit Committee suggests that the Government should, in the short term, provide more support to local authoritieis to enable them to adopt a plan and, in the medium term, support and encourage local authorities to develop joint local plans that properly take account of flood risk management.