Builders face flood protection charges

Speaking in Hull at the end of the 10m refurbishment of the city's tidal barrier, Environment Agency chairman Lord Chris Smith said they needed to "get better" at securing private sector investment.

He said: "We are going to have to do more to draw other sources of funding to join in with the public purse.

"Where, for example, by improving or building new flood defences you enable commercial development to take place I think there's a very strong case for saying the developer should be contributing to the cost of putting the flood defence into position.

"That's already happening around the country in one or two places – we need to get a lot better at doing that."

Asked about the impact of forthcoming cuts on the Environment Agency, Lord Smith said ministers had "said very strongly that flood defence is high priority."

He added: "They regard it as part of front-line delivery of services and I am very anxious to make sure that we can protect our flood defence work as much as we possibly can."

Lord Smith said the Agency would continue to maintain and run three pumping stations on the River Hull, which had been threatened with closure, until alternative management arrangements were put in place.

"What's now emerging as a strategy for these pumping stations is a commitment from us to keep maintaining and operating them for a period of years while arrangements are put in place for eventual transfer, possibly to new internal drainage boards or groups of farmers," he said.

Hull's tidal barrier is the second biggest in the UK and work on the 212-tonne structure finished last month.