Hard Rain: Building climate resilience before the storm (summary report)

This PIC Perspectives paper includes a summary of the report’s recommendations which include the following:

• funding flood resilience and regeneration: extending Flood Re’s mandate beyond 2039, ending VAT on remediation work on medium and high-risk zones, and learning from the Netherlands by applying their risk-based standard to flood resilience
• utilising the new water regulator to support investment: implementing joint regulatory analysis with the Environment Agency and NISTA to identify key mitigation measures and using new reservoirs to increase flood resilience
• developing policy mechanisms to encourage investment from private capital: implementing new Flooding Resilience Zones ('FRZ') to grant more flexibility to local bodies to make choices on planning, applying a land value uplift charge within the FRZ to provide sustainable funding for flood defence
• harnessing industry to boost flooding resilience by allowing developers to, for example: offset the flooding impact of their development through paying farmers to store water in their land when necessary; purchase credits to fund local flood defence works; or finance acts of mitigation by existing homeowners in the area
• utilising local leaders to coordinate flood resilience work: enabling Mayoralties to utilise existing public and private funding to maximise investment in flood resilience measures in their area.