A new report on how
businesses and organisations across the
South West can be more resilient to extreme
weather and climate change has been released
by Climate SouthWest.
A new report on how
businesses and organisations across the
South West can be more resilient to extreme
weather and climate change has been released
by Climate SouthWest.
In 2003, Climate SouthWest
published a scoping study, that looked at
what the impacts of climate change are likely
to be across a number of sectors in the
South West.
This has been updated
and the new report, ‘Warming to the Idea:
building resilience to extreme weather and
climate change in the South West’, is now
available as an online document on the Climate
SouthWest website: www.oursouthwest.com/climate.
The document can be found at: http://www.oursouthwest.com/climate/scopingstudy.htm
The update includes
the latest climate projections and reflects
current understanding of the key issues
and adaptation opportunities for the South
West.
As well as the online
version, printed copies are also available
from climatesw@environment-agency.gov.uk
.
This was sponsored by ENVEC, www.oursouthwest.com
and South West Water.
‘We are already vulnerable
to extreme weather. Climate Change will
make this worse. We need to plan for both
current and future vulnerability. Planning
for the impacts will be more cost effective
than reacting to them,’ said Alex Webb,
Regional Climate Change Co-ordinator for
Climate SouthWest.
The report says that
preparing for the risks of extreme weather
and climate change should be integrated
into planning, policy and decision making
at all levels and adaptation should be viewed
as part of normal business practices.
There are a number of
actions and recommendations in the report
for those organisations and businesses working
in the sectors covered, for local authorities
and for Climate SouthWest to deliver.
‘It is crucial that
all organisations are alive to the risks
and opportunities that current extreme weather
has on their business, because they need
to start planning for how they are going
to adapt as our climate continues to change.
Planning now will help increase resilience
and prevent a lot of expense down the line,’
added Alex Webb.
Climate SouthWest is supporting Climate
Week (21-27 March). The Partnership will
be holding ' Climate Week: building resilience
to extreme weather and climate change in
the South West ' during the national Climate
Week. During Climate Week SouthWest, the
Partnership will be engaging with people
on these issues and raising awareness of
the key messages around preparing for change.
Climate SouthWest and
its partners will be organising a range
of events in the South West during 21-27
March and encouraging local authorities,
businesses and community groups to get involved.
Climate SouthWest is
sponsored by the Environment Agency, Bristol
Water, Ecclesiastical Insurance, Defra,
Natural England, NHS South West, South West
Water, Wessex Water, and the National Trust.
+ More
Environment Agency outlines
flood investment plans for Thames
39 new flood and coastal
defence projects have been announced today.
Of these, 21 projects will provide additional
protection to households at risk of flooding
and coastal erosion.
The remainder relate
to repairs and safety enhancements to existing
defences.
Over the next year £521m
will be spent managing flood risk. In addition
to new schemes, the funding will also be
invested in ongoing work or completion of
108 projects already under construction,
and a further 185 schemes will receive funding
in 2011/12 for development work such as
feasibility studies, for possible construction
in future years.
The allocation for 2011/12
also covers maintaining existing defences,
developing flood forecasting technologies
and heightening public awareness of flood
risk.
The government expects
to spend at least £2.1bn on flooding
and coastal erosion over the next four years
and improve protection for at least 145,000
homes.
Environment Minister
Richard Benyon said: “Protecting homes from
the threat of flooding and coastal erosion
is incredibly important for the government,
and schemes which will contribute the most
in terms of protection to households and
economic benefit per pound spent have been
prioritised.
“The Environment Agency
and other risk management authorities have
worked very closely to ensure that as many
people as possible are protected from the
threat of flooding using the resources available.”
Some of the key Thames
flood defence projects planned to benefit
from funding in the 2010/2011 financial
year include:
• Upper Mole Flood Alleviation
Scheme – Construction work is progressing
on this £15m scheme that will protect
more than 1,000 properties in Crawley and
Horley. Planning permission is being sought
for the next stages of the project.
• Lewisham and Catford
Flood Alleviation Scheme – Work is progressing
on a feasibility study for a £8m scheme
that will protect 430 properties in Lewisham
and Catford.
• Haydon Wick Flood
Alleviation Scheme – Construction is due
to begin this year on the £3m scheme
that will protect over 118 properties in
Haydon Wick, Swindon, Wiltshire, subject
to planning permission.
• Thames Barrier and
Tidal Defences – Maintenance and renewals
to keep the Thames Barrier and other tidal
defences operational, including replacement
winch motors and steel ropes on the flood
gate and entrance of King George V Dock.
Thames Region Flood
Risk Manager Peter Quarmby said: “We will
invest more than £28m on renewing
and building flood defences across the Thames
region over the next financial year (up
to March 2012).
“More than 1.5 million
people are at risk of flooding from the
Thames and its tributaries and it is essential
that we continue to defend communities,
businesses and the economy from the risk
of flooding. We are developing some major
and far reaching plans to deal with flood
risk in the future, such as the Lower Thames
Strategy and the Thames Estuary 2100 project.
“While continued investment
is crucial, flooding cannot always be prevented,
and it is vital that communities also take
responsibility for being prepared – for
example by signing up to the Environment
Agency’s free flood warning service and
by preparing themselves in the event of
a flood.”
RFDC Chairman Amanda
Nobbs said: “We will now look at the national
funding that has been allocated to reducing
the risk to communities in Thames from river
flooding and finalise the allocations for
each project. It is vital that we continue
to invest our funding to protect as many
properties as we can against the risk of
flooding.”
The allocations for
each scheme will be agreed by the Regional
Flood Defence Committee at its next meeting
in the spring.
This funding is in addition to the agreed
£10m local levy funding for the Thames
region, which was announced in December.
This is the same level of funding local
schemes that has been granted for the past
two years.
Government funding for
schemes starting in 2012/13 and beyond will
be subject to the outcomes of the current
consultation on funding reforms.
Next month, Defra, the
Welsh Assembly Government, Cabinet Office
and Environment Agency will conduct the
country’s biggest peacetime exercise – Exercise
Watermark – to test the country’s arrangements
to respond to severe, wide-area flooding.
Ends
Notes to editors:
1. See the full list
of schemes going ahead in 2011/12 on the
Environment Agency website:
http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/research/planning/118129.aspx
2. Defra consultation:
Future funding of flood and coastal erosion
risk management in England
This consultation invites views on potential
reforms to the way in which central government
funding is allocated to projects in England
in order to manage the risk of flooding
and coastal erosion. http://www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/consult/flood-coastal-erosion/index.htm
3. Thames Region was
allocated 71m towards flood risk management
including building, renewing and maintaining
flood defences.
If you are at risk from
flooding, please call our 24 hour Floodline
service on 0845 988 1188 and ask to be signed
up to the Floodline Warnings Direct free
flood warning service.
Hazardous illegal waste export to Ghana
A man from Rochdale who illegally exported
fridge and freezers to Ghana has been brought
to justice by the Environment Agency.
