F2: Communities resilient to flooding and coastal erosion
Short Description
This indicator will allow us to monitor trends over time to better understand the impact of our policies and take action to protect and benefit our communities to build resilience everywhere. Flood and coastal resilience is defined as the capacity of people and places to better plan, better protect, respond to and recover quickly from flooding and coastal change (FCERM Strategy 2020). The approach to the finalisation of this indicator will continue to be refined to ensure it aligns with the government’s Policy Statement on Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management (2020) and the Statutory National Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategy (approved by Parliament in 2020 and a requirement of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010).
Readiness and links to data
This indicator is not available for reporting in a finalised form in 2024. Two new metrics are published here for the first time, F2a) the number of properties in at risk areas signed up to receive flood warnings and F2b) the percentage of flood and coastal risk management assets in the required condition. These are all published as part of the Environment Agency's annual Flood and coastal erosion risk management report.
The Environment Agency provide flood alerts and warnings for many properties that are at risk of flooding from rivers and the sea, as well as some properties in areas at risk of groundwater flooding. Warnings for surface water flooding are not yet available as it is difficult to determine where sudden rainstorms will occur, their intensity, duration and the effect they will have on the ground. Work is underway with the Met Office in order to develop short-range rapid forecasting to cover the type of rainfall that causes surface water flooding. Emergency alerts may also be issued in the most severe river and sea flooding incidents. The number of properties registered includes phone numbers in areas at risk from flooding that are automatically opted-in, but also includes individual uptake outside of the automatic flood warning area.
There are approximately 238,000 assets in England that have a flood or coastal risk management purpose, including Environment Agency and other public body owned assets and 162,000 which are maintained by riparian owners who own the land next to the associated river. Regular inspection of the flood risk management assets is undertaken, across both the Environment Agency's and third party assets. Over 165,000 inspections are completed every year upon a risk basis, with the highest risk assets inspected most frequently. An asset is deemed to be in the required condition if it is capable of continued operation aiding in the protection from sources of flooding. Where assets are not in required condition, this identifies that work is required. It does not present a risk of failure or compromise performance in a flood, because mitigation measures are put in place such as more frequent inspections from Environment Agency field teams. Asset condition can be affected by the number and severity of storms and flooding in a given year, which in turn impacts the costs of maintaining these assets. The Environment Agency report asset condition under the Environment Agency corporate scorecard. At the end of financial year the target is that 94.5% of assets in high consequence systems to be in the required condition, if this target is met it is considered green in the scorecard reporting.
The government set out its policies to tackle flood and coastal erosion risk in the long term in the Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Policy Statement, supported by the Environment Agency’s National Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategy for England, which sets out measures and actions to achieve a nation resilient to climate change.
Although the Environment Agency does not routinely carry out economic cost analysis of all floods, it has published cost of flooding reports following the winter 2013 to 2014 and winter 2015 to 2016 floods. The Environment Agency's flood and coastal erosion risk management annual reports (from 1 April 2011) provide further context and statistics about the impacts of recent major flood events.
Indicator components
Figure F2a: Number of properties registered for free flood warnings in England, 2017/2018 to 2022/2023
Table F2a: Number of properties registered for free flood warnings in England, 2017/2018 to 2022/2023
| Year | Number of properties registered for free flood warnings |
|---|---|
| 2017/2018 | 1345426 |
| 2018/2019 | 1420000 |
| 2019/2020 | 1510000 |
| 2020/2021 | 1520000 |
| 2021/2022 | 1540000 |
| 2022/2023 | 1540000 |
Trend description for F2a
As of the end of the 2022/2023 financial year, 1,540,000 properties were registered to receive free flood warnings, including those automatically opted in from areas at risk from flooding. This is an increase of 194,574 properties since the time series presented here began in March 2017.
Assessment of change
No assessment of change was undertaken for this indicator as further development is required to refine the methodology for the assessment.
Figure F2b: Percentage of flood or coastal risk management assets, in high consequence systems, in required condition in England, 2017/2018 to 2022/2023
Table F2b: Percentage of flood or coastal risk management assets, in high consequence systems, in required condition in England, 2017/2018 to 2022/2023
| Year | Percentage of assets in required condition | Percentage of assets not in required condition |
|---|---|---|
| 2017/2018 | 97.70 | 2.30 |
| 2018/2019 | 97.90 | 2.10 |
| 2019/2020 | 96.10 | 3.90 |
| 2020/2021 | 94.50 | 5.50 |
| 2021/2022 | 91.80 | 8.20 |
| 2022/2023 | 94.50 | 5.50 |
Trend description for F2b
In the 2021/2022 financial year, the start of the latest Government Capitial Investment Programme, of assets that have a flood or coastal risk management purpose in England, that are in high consequence systems, 91.8% of the assets met the required condition to continue operation and aid in the protection of properties. There was a 2.7% increase to 94.5% of these assets that met the required condition by the end of the 2022/2023 financial year. Overall, since the start of the time series presented here, there has been a reduction in the percentage of flood or coastal risk management assets in high consequence systems in the required condition, by 3.2% from 97.7% in March 2017.
Assessment of change
No assessment of change was undertaken for this indicator as further development is required to refine the methodology for the assessment.