By David Williams
18 January 2010
The catastrophic floods in England in 2007 cost taxpayers more than half a billion pounds, official data reveals.
The Environment Agency is calling for more investment in flood defences after publishing figures detailing the costs to the public purse, households and businesses.
The costs of the summer 2007 floods in England, published today, breaks down the estimated total cost of £3.2bn. It shows how damage to infrastructure and public buildings, combined with clean-up costs, school closures and increased demand on the emergency services, cost the taxpayer upwards of £500m.
But the figures show that although three-quarters of the costs to households were covered by insurance, as were 95% of the losses to businesses, that figure is considerably lower in the public sector. Just 45% of council losses and additional costs for emergency services were covered.
The overall cost of public health problems from the floods is evaluated at £274.5m, while local authorities were landed with bills totalling £137m. Overall damage to roads is estimated at £191m. School closures cost £9m, police and fire and rescue costs are calculated at £3.8m, while the Environment Agency itself had to spend an extra £19.3m as a result of the flooding.
Robert Runcie, the agency’s director of flood and coastal risk management, warned that one in six homes in England and Wales were at risk from flooding.
‘Investment in the building and maintaining of flood defences will need to almost double to £1bn a year by 2035 to keep pace with climate change,’ he said. ‘We estimate that the average annual cost of flood damage could rise by 60% by 2035 unless funding for defences is increased.’
18 January 2010
The catastrophic floods in England in 2007 cost taxpayers more than half a billion pounds, official data reveals.
The Environment Agency is calling for more investment in flood defences after publishing figures detailing the costs to the public purse, households and businesses.
The costs of the summer 2007 floods in England, published today, breaks down the estimated total cost of £3.2bn. It shows how damage to infrastructure and public buildings, combined with clean-up costs, school closures and increased demand on the emergency services, cost the taxpayer upwards of £500m.
But the figures show that although three-quarters of the costs to households were covered by insurance, as were 95% of the losses to businesses, that figure is considerably lower in the public sector. Just 45% of council losses and additional costs for emergency services were covered.
The overall cost of public health problems from the floods is evaluated at £274.5m, while local authorities were landed with bills totalling £137m. Overall damage to roads is estimated at £191m. School closures cost £9m, police and fire and rescue costs are calculated at £3.8m, while the Environment Agency itself had to spend an extra £19.3m as a result of the flooding.
Robert Runcie, the agency’s director of flood and coastal risk management, warned that one in six homes in England and Wales were at risk from flooding.
‘Investment in the building and maintaining of flood defences will need to almost double to £1bn a year by 2035 to keep pace with climate change,’ he said. ‘We estimate that the average annual cost of flood damage could rise by 60% by 2035 unless funding for defences is increased.’
