Review of the pilot flood protection grant scheme in a recently flooded area
Following a flood in an area that had benefited from a grant scheme, this research examined its effectiveness and local attitudes to managing flood risk.
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Details
Background
In 2007 Defra set up a pilot scheme that explored ways of delivering grants to pay for flood protection measures, and assessed the likely takeup by property owners. The pilot involved six locations and provided grants for 199 properties, of which 89% were residential and the remainder commercial.
In November 2009, less than two years after residents and businesses in the town had been provided with grant-funded property-level flood protection measures, the River Eden overtopped its banks and flooded one of the pilot areas (a street in Appleby-in-Westmorland, Cumbria).
Outcomes
This research was commissioned to discover:
- what difference the government-funded measures had made to the people of the town
- what factors had affected how effective the grant scheme was
- how the experience of the flood had changed attitudes towards this approach to flood risk management
The project was started in March 2010 and completed in November 2010, at a cost of £20,915 .