- Great Yarmouth is set to benefit from over £20 million of investment to help protect against flooding and coastal erosion.
- The funding comes as part of the Conservative Government’s £860 million investment to protect communities from flooding in 2021-22, and part of a wider record investment of £5.2 billion into protection from flooding and coastal erosion over the next six years.
- A consultation will also be launched in the autumn looking at how to better protect frequently flooded communities.
An extra 3,500 homes and businesses in Great Yarmouth are to be better protected from flooding and coastal erosion by 2026-27, as part of new plans published by the Conservative Government alongside a £5.2 billion investment.
The funding will be accompanied by a consultation in the autumn, where the Government will look at how to better protect frequently flooded communities, following a call for evidence earlier this year. It will consider how to strengthen the assessment of local circumstances, such as where areas have flooded on multiple occasions when allocating funding during the six-year plan.
The Conservative Government is also bringing in tighter guidance for planning authorities as part of a package of actions to better protect and prepare communities for flooding.
Improvements to flood insurance such as measures to allow flooded households to claim extra money to install property flood resilience measures – like air brick covers, flood-doors and flood-resistant paint – and measures to tackle the risks from surface water flooding are also included in the plans.
Flooding can devastate communities – too many homes and families in Great Yarmouth and Gorleston have sadly fallen victim to this, and so we must put the necessary protections in place to tackle it.
The £20 million to protect over 3,500 homes in Great Yarmouth will help to deliver on this by boosting the design and construction of flood alleviation schemes along the rivers Yare and Bure and putting the necessary measures in place to protect homes from flooding and coastal erosion. This will help to guard homes and families against the devastating impact of flooding, allowing people to feel reassured about the safety of their homes.