Flood risk (infrastructure)
After an increase in major damaging floods in recent years, flooding has continued to receive increased attention.
This has highlighted the ongoing need for flood management solutions, including the need to provide, improve and maintain flood defences in order to protect life and property.
This section places flooding in its wider context as part of a complex natural process that humans have sought to control. It considers how flooding sources are distinguished and managed by a range of statutory authorities within the UK legislative framework and looks at specific types of flood defence infrastructure. It provides references and links to specific technical guidance.
The section considers past and present expenditure on flood defences, mechanisms for funding new and improved flood defence infrastructure, and guidance on the maintenance of defences. It also considers how assessing the need for defences is changing in response to new data and the balance between restoration of rivers to a pristine condition and interventions that protect property.
This section is maintained by Francesca Hurt of Tetra Tech Europe.