London in the Thames Catchment
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NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKED London in the Thames catchment Business Case: Flood Risk and the six year investment programme London in the Thames catchment 1. Summary, Headline facts and statistics London’s flood risk Surface Water Rivers/Sea Residential Non Total Residential Non Total residential residential High 59,000 7,000 66,000 11,000 3,000 14,000 Medium 96,000 13,000 109,000 29,000 5,000 34,000 Low 445,000 54,000 499,000 423,000 56,000 485,000 Total at 600,000 74,000 674,000 465,000 65,000 536,000 risk The Six Year Investment Programme The Thames Regional Flood & Coastal Committee decide (RFCC) which projects make up the programme. The allocation of central Government funding to the projects is based on Defra Policy. £180m of Flood Defence Grant in Aid (FD GiA) investment planned in the Thames Estuary to maintain the World Class standard of protection for London from tidal flooding. £77m of FD GiA investment within London in the next six years to directly protect 10,000 properties from tidal flooding £36m of FD GiA investment planned to reduce the risk of river and surface water flooding to 6,800 properties in London At least £25m of contributions are required to unlock all of this investment over the next six years. Levy provides a mechanism for local authorities to pool resources to achieve this. The return on the investment in flood risk management is high. Within Thames the average benefit to cost ratio’s for schemes within the six year investment programme are; Protecting London from tidal flooding: 117:1 Reducing the risk from river flooding: 10:1 Reducing the risk from surface water flooding: 7:1 Levy The levy is used only to part-fund capital projects led by either local authorities or the Environment Agency. All other Agency costs are met by central Government. London in the Thames catchment 2. How flood risk management is funded and how value for money is ensured The flood risks across London, an illustration of the impacts of local flooding during a typical year (2014) along with examples of what gets built through the investment is set out in a series of Annexe’s (1 to 5) at the end of this paper. These are the factors that drive investment. The core of this paper focuses on value for money, governance, funding and the six year programme. Ensuring value for money Every capital project has to pass a series of gateways to ensure they are economically and technically robust before construction can happen. The National Audit Office scrutinise these processes every two to three years. Their most recent report was published this November. Their conclusions on the flood and coastal risk programme are set out below: “The Agency has a robust process in place to prioritise maintenance spend, based on the benefits and risk identified by flood risk model data. Annually, it undertakes an exercise to allocate funding for asset maintenance, using its national database of maintenance needs.” “Benefit–cost assessments for capital flood defence projects are robust and well thought through. The Agency’s approach to benefit–cost analysis is consistent with HM Treasury’s Green Book. The Agency has produced detailed guidance on identifying the typical benefits and costs of projects, and investment appraisals are clear and thorough.” “There is a healthy benefit–cost ratio for floods projects. The Agency anticipated it would achieve a programme benefit–cost ratio of at least 8:1 for its flood defence projects funded through grant-in-aid for the current spending review period. As of March 2014, it has achieved 9.5:1” “The Agency has made efficiencies, including a saving of £44 million between 2011 and 2014 in respect of capital construction projects. However, the risk of more severe weather events will put pressure on existing budgets.” Source: NAO Report into Strategic Flood Risk Management, November 2014 http://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Strategic-flood-risk-management.pdf How projects are assessed Table One – How Projects are assessed Stage The tests, costs and outcome London Picture Pre-Gateway 0 – Usually a short assessment of evidence to establish whether there Decision to could be a capital solution to a flooding problem. A high level investigate a assessment of costs and benefits to establish whether the project problem should be put forward onto a future programme. Generally carried out internally by Local Authorities or the EA. There is a need to produce sufficient evidence for the RFCC approve putting the project on the programme and developing a business case. Gateway 0 – All business cases are carried out using a common appraisal 67 Projects Decision to method that ensures compliance with MH Treasury rules. The develop a business case needs to provide evidence to show: £27m of investment business case for the economic return on a project is (lifetime costs, houses planned within the 6 a project. protected, commercial damages avoided) year programme the costs of construction that the risks are understood and accounted for that the funding contributions are secure London in the Thames catchment The work will involve some flood modeling, engineering assessment of options and consultation with the affected community. On a simple project – for example to construct a flood wall to protect a small group of houses this stage may only take a few months. On a large complex project such as the £15m Lewisham and Catford scheme this phase can take 18 to 24 months. Gateway 1 – If the business case is approved, the project can progress to Approval of detailed design. On larger projects, where the appraisal stage is business case particularly detailed we award ‘Design and Build’ contracts where it is more efficient to do so. This stage ensures that the option 24 Projects selected through the business case can be built for the cost expected. £26m of investment planned within the 6 Gateway 2 – This gateway checks that the project design has been carried out in year programme Approval of accordance with the approved business case and that the client detailed design has been involved in the design process and approves the detailed design. Gateway 3 – This gateway checks that a contract may be awarded and that Construction everything necessary is in place to ensure that there will be value 26 Projects Contract Award for money. This will include ensuring the procurement strategy is in place, that all land, legal and planning agreements are secure, £68m of investment ensuring sufficient time for mobilisaion and that risks will be planned managed. Flood Risk Management funding There are three main sources of funding for Flood Risk projects; Flood Defence Grant in Aid from central Government Local levy contributions Partner / beneficiary contributions The maximum amount of central Government funding on offer to each project is based on the value of qualifying benefits for each of the outcomes set by Defra. Those projects that have large outcomes relative to their cost are eligible for 100% funding from central Government. For example, works to the tidal defences through London are eligible for full funding. Many projects to address surface water, groundwater and river flooding do require contributions to secure the central Government funding and progress. The RFCC take the decisions on where levy contributions should be used to achieve this. Across the 6 year programme in Thames the RFCC have agreed that levy should be used to make up the difference between central Government funding (and beneficiary contributions) and the total cost of a project for surface water and groundwater projects being implemented by Local Authorities. This approach recognises that Local Authorities have only had these responsibilities for a few years and there is a very significant surface water risk across urban locations in Thames. Governance & roles London in the Thames catchment Regional Flood & Coastal The RFCC brings together members appointed by Lead Local Flood Committee Authorities and independent members with relevant experience: to ensure there are coherent plans for identifying, communicating and managing flood and coastal erosion risks across catchments and shorelines; to promote efficient, targeted and risk-based investment in flood and coastal erosion risk management that optimises value for money and benefits for local communities; to provide a link between the Environment Agency, LLFAs, other risk management authorities, and other relevant bodies to engender mutual understanding of flood and coastal erosion risks in its area Environment Agency The EA is responsible for taking a strategic overview of the management of all sources of flooding and coastal erosion. This includes, for example, setting the direction for managing the risks through strategic plans; providing evidence and advice to inform Government policy and support others; and providing a framework to support local delivery. The Agency also has operational responsibility for managing the risk of flooding from main rivers, reservoirs, estuaries and the sea. The EA requires the consent of the Regional Flood & Coastal Committee to implement its programmes. Lead Local Flood Lead Local Flood Authorities (upper tier councils) are responsible for Authority developing, maintaining and applying a strategy for local flood risk management in their areas and for maintaining a register of flood risk assets. They also have lead responsibility for managing the risk of flooding from surface water, groundwater and ordinary watercourses. Water and sewerage Water and Sewerage Companies are responsible for managing the risks companies of flooding from water and foul or combined sewer systems providing drainage from buildings and yards. All Risk Management Under the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 all risk management Authorities authorities mentioned above have a duty to co-operate with each other and to share data.