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Sunday, February 9, 2025

East Midlands to receive £37m from government to bolster flood defences

Tens of thousands of homes and businesses will be better protected from flooding as the Government today unveils a record package to build new flood defences and maintain and repair those already in place.

A record two-year investment of £2.65 billion will be made across the country, better protecting 52,000 properties by March 2026, and £37.5 million of that pot will go into vital projects in the East Midlands.

The Derby Flood Risk Management Scheme, Our City Our River—developed to reduce flood risk and create a high-quality riverside linking the city centre with the river—is set to receive £35 million under the new plans.

Property flood resilience schemes across Leicestershire, Derbyshire, and Nottinghamshire will also receive £2.5 million.

The Environment Agency has confirmed that a natural flood management project will move ahead to delivery in Leicester, where Leicester City Council will work in partnership with Trent Rivers Trust to reduce flood risk across 13 locations.

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Their work includes implementing blue-green sustainable drainage at several schools, tree planting, and creating new wetlands to improve floodplain connectivity and increase floodwater storage.

This Labour Government inherited flood assets in their poorest condition on record, as 14 years of damaging storms and underinvestment from the Conservatives left 3,000 of the Environment Agency’s 38,000 high-consequence assets below the required condition.

To shore up creaking defences across the country—left in substandard condition through underinvestment in repairs—funding will also be shifted towards maintenance, ensuring a further 14,500 properties have their expected level of protection maintained or restored, for a total of 66,500 properties benefiting from this funding across the UK.

This announcement comes as the Labour Government’s Flood Resilience Taskforce meets today (Wednesday, 5 February), with the Floods Minister, Emma Hardy, joined by ministers from across government alongside representatives from the Met Office, Local Resilience Forum, and the National Farmers’ Union.

They will look at further steps that can be taken to protect the 6.3 million properties in England at risk from flooding and lessons to learn from Storms Bert, Conall, and Éowyn this winter.

Establishing the Flood Resilience Taskforce was a pledge the Labour Party made while in opposition and has now delivered in government as part of the Plan for Change.

Steve Reed MP, Labour’s Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, said:

**“The Conservatives’ flood defence negligence over the past 14 years was a dereliction of duty that left communities in the East Midlands exposed and cost the economy billions.

“They failed to spend over two-thirds of the money pledged for flood defences, leaving our flood defence infrastructure in the poorest condition on record.

“That’s why this Labour Government is now investing a record £2.65 billion to build and maintain flood defences across the country to protect lives, homes, and businesses from the dangers of flooding—including in these vital projects in Derbyshire, Leicestershire, and Nottinghamshire.”**

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