National Flood Resilience Review Call for Evidence
Following Storm Desmond last December, the government launched a National Flood Resilience Review. The review is being chaired by Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Oliver Letwin. The Review will assess how the country can be better protected from future flooding and increasingly extreme weather events. It will focus on four key areas: (1) updating our climate modelling and stress-testing the nation’s resilience to flood risk; (2) assessing the resilience of our important infrastructure like electricity substations; (3) our temporary defences; and (4) our future investment strategy.
This week Defra has launched a “call for evidence” to provide a new assessment of the damage that extreme rainfall could cause across England. Submitted evidence should focus on the impacts on populated areas including urban areas and crucial elements of infrastructure such as significant roads, bridges, energy infrastructure, water treatment plants, telecoms and hospitals. The Review team wants to understand the possible implications of extreme events and to review our current modelling assumptions. Defra is looking for people/organisations to submit evidence that has either been published in a peer-reviewed journal or evidence that has been published elsewhere following an independent review process. The deadline is 4 March and more details can be found here: https://consult.defra.gov.uk/water-and-flood-risk-management/national-flood-resilience-review-call-for-evidence The Review is due to be published this summer – more details here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/national-flood-resilience-review-government-action-to-tackle-floods