Insurer says £800m promised by government for 2010-11 falls short.
The government’s planned spending on flood defences of £800m in 2010-11 is not enough to address surface drainage and should be increased to £1.5bn, says AXA.
The French insurer said the government’s flood defence spending would cover coastal and river defences but did not tackle surface drainage, which would need an additional investment of £720m.
David Williams, managing director of claims for AXA, said: “More than 75% of our flood claims in 2007 resulted from drainage issues. The cost of last year’s floods to the UK insurance industry as a whole was around £3.4 billion, which reflects not only a huge financial burden that needs to be spread across insurance premiums, but also the tremendous suffering to policyholders that flooding causes.
“Prevention measures and increased investment could substantially reduce insurance claims and disruption to people’s lives.”
AXA is calling for clear accountability and increased investment to deal specifically with drainage problems that cause flooding, along with a larger financial commitment from central and local government to address infrastructure issues.
AXA commissioned the research undertaken by a chartered environmental surveyor into the amount required for adequate investment to counter the risk of flooding. It said that while the government committed an additional £5 million for the development of surface water management plans in June, this was for the development of the plans, not for the action required.
Currently, there is no clear responsibility for surface water drainage and AXA is advocating that local authorities should be made accountable for the infrastructure improvements required to address the issues that result from this – an issue that was raised in the recent Pitt Review.
Williams said: “It is essential that the issues of who is responsible for the ownership and maintenance of sustainable drainage systems are identified and relevant funding put in place to ensure increased protection for the future.”
