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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to increase flood resilience in (a) Bermondsey and Old Southwark constituency and (b) other flood-prone areas.

The Government, through the Environment Agency (EA), is investing £2.65 billion between 2024/25 and 2025/26 to build and maintain flood and coastal defences, better protecting around 52,000 properties from flooding.

The Thames Barrier and tidal wall defences provide significant protection from tidal flood risk to Bermondsey and Old Southwark constituency. The EA is managing tidal flood risk through this century by implementing the Thames Estuary 2100 Plan. This will require defences to be raised by 0.5m by 2050 to keep pace with climate change on top of ongoing maintenance of these assets.

Last year London Borough of Southwark completed the Lost Peck Flood Alleviation scheme supported by £1.39 million of EA capital grant. This improved surface water flood risk to 207 residential properties in neighbouring constituencies. The Borough and the EA continue to work together to develop a pipeline of surface water flood alleviation schemes throughout London Borough of Southwark.