More than 400,000 hectares of agricultural land across England will receive a significant, further boost to its flood protection thanks to £16 million in additional funding for internal drainage boards (IDBs), Floods Minister Emma Hardy announced today (Monday 31 March).
Some 91,000 homes and businesses are also expected to benefit from the IDB Fund, which has been bolstered to a total of £91 million on top of the previously allocated £75 million as part of the Government’s Plan for Change.
IDBs are the vital local public bodies who manage water levels for agricultural and environmental needs across the country. They serve 1.2 million hectares of land covering 9.7% of the country’s total land area, operate around 500 pumping stations, and maintain more than 22,000 kilometres (13,700 miles) of watercourses.
The funding will go towards helping IDBs with operational expenses following the devastating winter storms of 2023/4, including bankrolling the repair of pumping stations.
It will also enable investment in modernising and upgrading IDB assets and waterways to ensure they are fit for the future.
As part of the Government’s Plan for Change, the investment will improve resilience for farmland, flood infrastructure and rural communities, delivering growth and supporting agricultural production.
Floods Minister Emma Hardy said:
Flooding can take a devastating toll on farmers and rural communities. This additional funding will ensure rural flood assets are more resilient or fully replaced, putting IDBs on a firm footing to deliver their vital work on flood and water management for years to come.
Thousands of properties and tens of thousands of hectares of farmland are already seeing their flood resilience improved as part of the Government’s Plan for Change and today’s further investment will help support our farmers further.
The Environment Agency manages the Fund and will distribute grants to IDBs by the end of April 2025 .
Ian Hodge, Environment Agency Chief Engineer and Director of Asset Management & Engineering, said:
By increasing the IDB Fund with an additional £16 million, we are equipping these essential public bodies to address the mounting challenges posed by climate change, including more frequent and severe weather events.
This funding ensures IDBs can repair flood risk management assets, manage rising costs, and continue their crucial work in reducing flood risks.
Beyond safeguarding communities, this investment will enable internal drainage boards to manage water levels more effectively for agricultural productivity and environmental priorities, bolstering resilience and adaptability for years to come.
So far, the IDB Fund has provided £53 million for more than 200 projects between July 2024 and March 2025. It will have supported 91 of the nation’s 112 IDBs upon completion.
Bill Symons, clerk to the York Consortium of Drainage Boards who benefitted from the Fund, said:
The IDB Fund has allowed us to deliver more sustainable, higher quality works on flood infrastructure badly damaged by storms and flooding. This was proving to be an expensive, unfunded legacy.
The funding has reduced financial pressure locally at a critical time after a period of flooding and loss of productivity in agriculture, along with shortages of funds in local authorities.
We have used local workforces and contractors to deliver some of our more expensive and problematic bank slips and delivered more than we could do normally thanks to the fund.
Further projects already delivered through the IDB Fund include the replacement of pumps and pumping station infrastructure, much of which was built in the 1960s and damaged during recent storm and flood events.
A £1.3 million project to install four new pumps at Marshfield and Lapperditch pumping stations in the Lower Severn catchment near Gloucester has just been completed, meaning the stations will be able to operate for at least another 25 years. The new pumps also support River Severn flood defences, 12 kilometres of roads, and fish and eels, as well as reducing the amount of time farmland in the area spends under water.
Elsewhere, funding has also been used to repair flood embankments, desilt drainage ditches, install telemetry and water control structures for remote operation, and improve fish and eel passages.
More than 64% of England’s agricultural land graded excellent and suitable for a wide range of crops with consistently high yields – known as Grade 1 Agricultural Land – is within regions managed by IDBs. Approximately 20% of arable production is from land in or close to IDBs.
In February, the Government committed a record £2.65 billion investment over two years towards the construction of new flood schemes alongside the repair and maintenance of existing assets as part of its Plan for Change.
The Environment Agency has today published a list of the schemes across the nation to benefit from funding for the next year.
