Local authority and internal drainage board funding

From 1 April 2008  responsibility for approving and payment of capital Flood Defence Grant in Aid (FDGiA) across all authorities in England was transferred to the Environment Agency.  The Welsh Government has indicated that they do not foresee this decision being adopted in Wales.

How we comply with the relevant legislation is set out in Grant Memorandum - Flood Risk Management under the Water Resources Act 1991 and the Land Drainage Act 1991, and Coastal Erosion under the Coast Protection Act 1949.

• Grant Memorandum 2011 for local authorities and internal drainage boards (PDF, 224KB)

How are projects funded?

A new approach to funding flood and coastal risk management has been introduced for projects starting from 2012/13. This is called  'Flood and Coastal Resilience Partnership Funding'.

Instead of meeting the full costs of a limited number of projects, under the new approach a proportion of Government funding would be available to any worthwhile scheme.  Funding levels for each scheme will relate directly to the benefits delivered.  More details on the assessment of benefits is outlined in the Outcome Measures guidance.

For more details on the new funding approach, see the Flood and Coastal Resilience Partnership Funding - an introductory guide (PDF, 425KB) and the Flood and Coastal Resilience Partnership Funding - policy statement (PDF, 167KB) on the Defra website.

For schemes not fully funded by Government to proceed, either the costs would need to be reduced or the remainder of the funding provided through local contributions.

For schemes that qualify for full funding, cost savings or contributions may mean the scheme is delivered sooner, and could release funding to allow others schemes to go ahead. 

Our Flood and Coastal Risk Management External Contributions Policy provides more information on how financial contributions can benefit our work.

• Flood and Coastal Risk Management External Contributions Policy (PDF, 99KB)
• Flood Defence Grant in Aid allocation process in England

Case studies of schemes with multiple funding streams, partners and objectives 

Defra have recently completed a Research & Development (R&D) project that describes 15 case studies where multiple-funders, multiple-partners and multiple-objectives have provided additional benefits to communities at risk from flooding and coastal erosion.  The project also includes information on  lessons learned during the case studies. 

• R&D project Urban Flood Risk Management: Schemes with multiple objectives and funders (phase I) - FD2635

Applying for funding

A summary of the procedure for applying for grant and securing approval for flood risk management and coastal erosion studies, strategies and projects is provided in Guidance Note 1.

• Guidance note 1 -  April 2011 flor local authorities and internal drainage boards approval of flood risk management and coastal erosion studies, strategies and projects (PDF, 47KB)

To apply for Government grant, local authorities and internal drainage boards need to construct a Medium Term Plan (Form FRM1) in liaison with their Environment Agency Area Flood and Coastal Risk Manager by the end of June each year.  A form to automate the completion of the FRM1 is provided.  There is also an Outcome Measure calculator which needs to be used to generate some of the FRM1 data.

• FRM 1 - Medium Term Plan template (Updated 15 June 2011)(Excel, 4MB)
• FRM 1 Guidance - Guidance to complete form FRM 1 (PDF, 432KB)  
• Form for automated Medium Term Plan completion (Zip, 132KB)
• FDGiA Calculator Tool (Updated 15 June 2011)(Excel, 198KB)
• Further guidance on the calculation of outcome measures (PDF, 168KB)

When preparing your application and submitting business cases for approval we suggest you use the:

• Project Appraisal Guidance and supplementary notes 
• Project Appraisal Report (August 2010) - template and guidance to prepare a business case to support a grant application under the Land Drainage Act for a Simple Change Project (PDF, 168KB) 
• Project Appraisal Report (August 2010) - template and guidance to prepare a business case to support a grant application under the Coast Protection Act for a Simple Change Project (Word, 2MB)

Coastal erosion

Maritime local authorities, who have coastal erosion responsibilities under the Coast Protection Act 1949, should follow the new guidance and use the forms for approval of coastal erosion projects:

• Guidance note 2 - April 2011 for maritime local authorities - approval of coastal erosion studies, strategies and projects (PDF, 32KB)
• CPA 1 - Certificate of statutory consultations and responses (Word, 222KB)
• CPA 2 - Application for formal approval of coast protection project (Word, 52KB)

Forms

The following forms are for use by local authorities and internal drainage boards throughout the process of applying for and claiming grant, and delivering projects.

• FCRM 2 - Flood defence schemes:  application for grant (Word, 71KB)
• FCRM 3 - Application for interim payment of grant (Word, 40KB)
• FCRM 4 - Application for prior approval of variations of approved schemes/studies (Word, 57KB)
• FCRM 5 - Final statement of account (Word, 149KB)
• FCRM 5A - Final statement of account for outstanding land purchase and compensation claims (Version 2)(Word, 226KB)
• FCRM 6 - Grant eligible claim profile (Excel, 51KB)
• FCRM 7 - Application for approval of studies and strategies (Word, 78KB)
• FCRM 8 - Project closure report (Word, 38KB)

Who to contact

Your first point of contact should be our Area Flood and Coastal Risk Managers (PDF, 85KB)

For financial enquiries contact our National Flood Risk Management Finance Team.