Speeches

George Hollingbery – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by George Hollingbery on 2015-02-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the (a) time taken and (b) cost of dredging operations undertaken by the Environment Agency was in the (i) 2012-13 and (ii) 2013-14 financial years in each operational area; and what the expected benefits of such operations were.

Dan Rogerson

Dredging is not identified as a separate category within the Environment Agency’s budget allocations or work recording systems, as it is often carried out at the same time as other channel activities. It is included within the broader category of ‘conveyance’ on which the Environment Agency spent around £45 million and £32 million in total in 2012/13 and 2013/14 respectively. The Environment Agency carries out conveyance work, including dredging, where it cost effectively reduces flood risk to people and property. The Environment Agency estimate that, on average, conveyance work provides about £7 of reduced flood damages for every pound spent. Dredging can provide other benefits, such as land drainage and navigation.

The funding spent on conveyance in each operational Environment Agency area was:

2012/13

2013/14

Environment Agency Area

Total Allocated (£M)

Total Allocated (£M)

Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire

1.03

0.56

Cumbria and Lancashire

3.77

1.75

Derbyshire Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire

2.31

2.27

Devon and Cornwall

2.77

1.31

Essex Norfolk and Suffolk

3.96

1.07

Greater Manchester Merseyside and Cheshire

4.41

4.47

Hertfordshire and North London

4.48

3.40

Kent and South London

3.95

3.12

Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire

3.26

2.86

Northumberland Durham and Tees

1.11

1.73

Shropshire Herefordshire Worcestershire and Gloucestershire

1.07

1.39

Solent and South Downs

2.01

2.10

Staffordshire Warwickshire and West Midlands

1.27

1.42

Wessex

2.01

1.38

West Thames

4.12

1.60

Yorkshire

3.43

1.82

Grand Total

44.95

32.27

We do not hold information on the time it took for each of the dredging operations to be undertaken.