Policy paper

Surface water management: a government update

Progress update on the surface water management action plan and government response to the review of responsibilities for surface water and drainage assets.

• From: Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs
• Published: 29 July 2021

Applies to England

Documents

Surface water management: a government update

PDF, 282 KB, 29 pages

This file may not be suitable for users of assistive technology.

Request an accessible format.

If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need a version of this document in a more accessible format, please email defra.helpline@defra.gov.uk. Please tell us what format you need. It will help us if you say what assistive technology you use.

Details

This government update on surface water management restates its commitment to tackling surface water flood risk. This is the most widespread form of flooding in England, with around 3.2 million properties at risk. This risk is increasing because of the effects of climate change and population growth.

To help mitigate this risk, the government published its surface water management action plan in July 2018, setting out 22 actions to reduce surface water flood risk.

In August 2020 the government published an independent review into the arrangements for determining responsibility for surface water and drainage assets. This was one of the actions from the action plan.

This report formally responds to the 28 recommendations in the independent review and provides an update. It highlights the progress that has already been, and will continue to be made, on carrying out the actions from the action plan.

Published 29 July 2021