Welsh flood defences money ‘needs to triple’

Sally Williams in Wales Online (UK): Investment in flood defences in Wales needs to triple to cope with rising sea levels, increased rainfall and coastal erosion, the Environment Agency said yesterday. The Agency warned that spending on defences needed to rise steadily to £135m a year to maintain the current level of protection.

In a report published yesterday, it said the highest flood risk areas in Wales are Conwy and Gwynedd in North Wales and Newport in South Wales. Environment Agency Wales director Chris Mills, said: “This report spells out that a steady increase in investment is vital to maintain current levels of protection against rising sea levels, more rapid rates of coastal erosion, and increasingly severe and frequent rain storms due to climate change.

“We need to work even more with local communities, the local authorities and others who can help to come up with local solutions on how to cope with increased flooding in the future.”

…The agency’s flood risk manager Cliff Moyce said: “Flood defences cannot stop all flooding and they may not be affordable in all locations. Choices will need to be made about how and where public money is best directed to manage flood risks. We will be working actively with communities to develop innovative solutions to local flood risk problems.”…

Flooded road in Pont Trecynni, Wales. Most days, a small stream flows under the road at this point where a farm lane meets the A487. Heavy rain on October 11 2005 caused flooding here that eventually rendered the lane inaccessible for several hours. Shot by ceridwen, Wikimedia Commons via the Geograph Project, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license