Environment Agency Press Release: 17/11/2021
The North West Regional Flood and Coastal Committee (RFCC) has been refreshing its business plan to set ambitious and clear priorities from 2022 to 2025
The plan has been developed through a series of workshops with the sub-regional strategic flood risk partnerships. It has also been informed by responses to a community survey carried out earlier in the year.
The plan sets priorities for the Committee and its core partners, including the Environment Agency, Lead Local Flood Authorities and United Utilities, but it will also be a means of communicating and engaging with those who will benefit from its work and a wider group of partners with whom the Committee seeks to build stronger links.
The priority areas identified in the Business Plan align with those set out in the government’s National Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategy including the drive to build resilience in communities and infrastructure, to manage water at a catchment scale and harnessing the power of nature, and to achieve multiple benefits from flood resilience projects.
The plan also recognises the vital need for the RFCC and its flood risk management authority partners to work more collaboratively with a wider range of partners and communities to develop shared objectives, and attract investment for flood solutions.
In order to implement the plan, it will be supported each financial year by an action strategy. The RFCC and core partners are now involved in the action planning process to confirm initiatives that will start or continue in 2022/23. Once this work is complete, the RFCC will be in a position to turn the proposed actions into commitments, as part of the formal launch of the Business Plan in March 2022.
The RFCC will monitor the delivery of the action plan through quarterly meetings to ensure it remains on track to deliver it and adapt to change accordingly.
RFCC Chair, Adrian Lythgo, said: The refresh of the RFCC business plan is an important step in communicating regional priorities for flood resilience, set against the background of national policy and strategy. We need to be clear about the flood risk we face both now and as a result of climate change, and to prioritise investment that results in sustainable protection for communities and businesses. Our business plan underpins that approach.”
The RFCC Business Plan is being circulated to stakeholders and community flood action groups and can be found on The Flood Hub website, created and funded by the Committee.
To view the North West RFCC 2022 – 2025 Business Plan, click here.
