皇家华人is calling on the government to prioritise investment in water management in the upcoming Spending Review.
In its , the CCC (Climate Change Committee) has said the UK鈥檚 preparedness for climate change is 鈥榠nadequate鈥� with little progress seen since its last assessment in 2023, highlighting a number of immediate concerns that it says it expects will worsen if the government does not take action.
It states there is 鈥榰nequivocal evidence鈥� that climate change is making extreme weather in the UK worse and more likely, with the period between October 2022 to March 2024 seeing the wettest 18 months on record for England.
鈥�Climate extremes are not going away and we need to be investing in the maintenance and expansion of our flooding defences now to minimise damage in the future.鈥�
NFU President Tom Bradshaw
Farmers have felt the effects of this all too keenly, as this led to the second worst arable harvest in England since modern records began. Even now, many farms affected are still trying to recover from the damage to their land and their businesses.
Flooding is a particular concern, with the CCC estimating that 6.3 million properties in England are in areas at risk of flooding, with this predicted to rise to around 8 million from 2050. It has said the budget of the Environment Agency鈥檚 flood defence programme is shrinking in real terms as risks are escalating, meaning that the condition of flood defence assets is declining.
The also identified a continuous shortfall in Environment Agency flooding maintenance funding.
That is why the NFU is asking the Chancellor in her Spending Review to establish a long-term investment plan to improve the UK鈥檚 failing flooding infrastructure, with funding allocations that recognise rural needs.
Climate extremes not going away
NFU President Tom Bradshaw said the impact of climate change 鈥渋s clear for all to see鈥�, describing last year鈥檚 growing season as one of the most challenging in living memory due to flooding.
Tom said flooding not only caused significant damage to people鈥檚 properties and livelihoods, but that it also puts the UK鈥檚 food production at risk.
鈥淎t a time when global food supply chains are far from stable, we have to do what we can to protect and boost homegrown food production,鈥� he said.
鈥淩ecovering from flood damage comes at a huge cost to the taxpayer. Climate extremes are not going away and we need to be investing in the maintenance and expansion of our flooding defences now to minimise damage in the future.鈥�
Heat, drought and flooding will continue to make agricultural planning more difficult, the CCC has said, as well as posing a major threat to UK biodiversity and the ability of land to sequester carbon.
Heat-related deaths are also expected to exceed 10,000 in an average year by 2050, driven by the effect of climate change on a vulnerable, ageing population.
The CCC is also calling for:
- better coordination across government departments
- sufficient resource to ensure climate adaptation planning is supported in the next Spending Review
- adequate monitoring and evaluating
- and for the government to improve its objectives and targets, calling this the 鈥榲ital first step to provide an actionable and measurable framework鈥�.
SFI closure
In the previous report, it focused on ELMs as the key way to mitigate flood risk for farm businesses.
However, with the sudden closure of SFI24 earlier this year due to budget limitations which shut off access to the scheme for thousands of businesses overnight, the NFU is highlighting critical gaps in government policy and funding which urgently need addressing.
Tom added: 鈥淭his is a clear example of where policies and budgets need to be much more joined up, something the CCC also highlights in its report. In 2023 the government said the best way farmers could adapt their businesses to a changing climate was through the SFI scheme, but then this year it shut up shop.
鈥淓verything comes back to sufficient funding. We need an agricultural budget which allows more farm businesses to take these important measures through the SFI, and a nationwide flooding investment plan, which recognises rural needs, to make the UK more resilient to any extreme weather that comes our way.鈥�
What is the NFU calling for?
皇家华人believes a long-term flooding investment plan should include:
- Maintenance of existing assets and systems to enable swifter recovery from flooding, alongside investment in new defences.
- Removing the artificial distinction between capital and maintenance budgets to allow a more joined-up, outcome-focused approach that maximises benefits for communities.
- A fair payment for flood storage to farmers in regularly flooded areas, particularly those who take on water on their land to protect neighbouring towns and villages, to allow them to plan and ensure recovery procedures.
- Sufficient funding for IDBs (Internal Drainage Boards) to continue their work reducing flood risk, recognising the significant inflationary cost pressures that have made them unviable relying on drainage rates and local levies alone. These IDBs manage over 500 pumping stations and other infrastructure to protect over 600,000 people and nearly 900,000 properties.
- Investment in a national programme for water storage and drainage systems to build resilience in the face of increasingly extreme flood and drought conditions.
