Third of country’s flood defences in private hands

An investigation has found that a third of England’s most important flood defences are in private hands, with more than 1,000 found to be in a poor state and some at risk of ‘complete performance failure’.

Data obtained under freedom of information laws by Unearthed reveal that privately owned assets classed as ‘high consequence’ are twice as likely to be in a poor condition as those maintained by the Environment Agency, with eight per cent, or 1,109, of private defences rated as sub-par. The defences range from flood walls or embankments to weirs and piers, though many are outfall pipes or culverts – enclosed watercourses that run underneath roads, railways or other property.

Private owners cannot be forced to make upgrades to the defences, with the government only able to ‘encourage’ third-party owners to do maintenance. The Environment Agency can carry out emergency repairs if there is a risk to people, property or environment, and try to bill the freeholders afterwards.

According to the Environment Agency, high-consequence flood defences are the most important because they ‘contribute to managing flood risk in a location where the consequence on people and property of an asset failing is high’.

There is no public record of who owns or maintains private flood defences in England, and local authorities are often unaware. For example, Kirklees Council in West Yorkshire, which dealt with bad flooding during Storm Ciara in 2020, said it did not know who owned the 23 privately owned defences in its area that were rated as poor or very poor.