South East flood schemes

In South East, flood defence is an important part of our organisation, accounting for nearly half our expenditure and workforce. These are the flood alleviation schemes we are currently working on.

Banbury
Deal
Dungeness shingle recycling
Emsworth to East Head
Folkestone to Cliff End
Haydon Wick
Internal Drainage Districts
Landport Road, Lewes
Leigh Barrier
Littlehampton Arun east bank
Lower Thames
Lower Tidal Arun
Medmerry managed realignment
Newbury
Ouse to Seaford
Oxford
Paddle and Rymer weir scheme
Pagham Harbour
Pagham to East Head Coastal Defence Strategy
Salmons Brook
Sandwich
Shoreham Adur Tidal Walls
Southampton City Golf Course (Holly Brook)
Thames Estuary (including theThames Barrier)
Weir improvements
West Wittering
Wey
Our duties

1. We must be aware of possible new building developments on land liable to flooding, and alert local planning authorities of the risk. We gather data that helps us define floodplain areas at risk from river or tidal flooding in our region. Our specialists continually carry out studies to give us a better understanding of why floods happen and how their effects can be minimised.

2. We carry out works to maintain river channels in good condition. These include:
- removing obstructions
- cutting back dead or dying trees that might fall and block the channel
- removing reeds and weeds that could cause blockages
- dredging watercourses to remove the build up of silt
- making sure sluices, pumps, weirs and other essential structures work properly
3. We assess where new flood defence works are needed, and then build them. This could involve strengthening river walls, embankments, realigning water courses, digging flood relief channels and building new weirs and sluices.

4. We are committed to providing effective flood warnings and maintaining awareness of flood risk. These are perhaps our highest profile tasks.

We always consider the needs of wildlife and of the environment as a whole. The aim is to enhance the environment as we build better flood defences. We work with our conservation specialists and take every opportunity to create new wildlife habitats as well as preserve existing ones.

South East flood schemes

Our duties

Page tools