Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which areas will receive funding from the £200 million announced in July 2020 for innovative projects to improve flood resilience.

We are investing £200m in a new Flood and Coastal Resilience Innovation Programme to pilot new and creative approaches to improve resilience to flooding and coastal change in 25 areas across England. On 9th November 2020, we invited Lead Local Flood Authorities (LLFAs) and Coast Protection Authorities (CPAs) to work together with partners to develop their expressions of interest by 15 January 2021. Areas will then be selected based on a range of criteria, including repeated significant flooding in the past. Some initial funding will be used help the areas selected to develop their project proposals into more detailed plans during spring 2021, before the projects formally begin from summer 2021.