UK flooding: Environment Agency to cut hundreds of jobs

BBC News

The Environment Agency has confirmed that jobs in flood protection in England will be cut as part of a major restructuring of the organisation.

About 1,500 jobs are to be lost at the agency although it is not clear how many flood-related posts will go.

But a spokesman for the agency told the BBC the cuts would have an impact on flood operations such as risk management, maintenance and modelling.

The news comes as large parts of the UK are facing severe flood warnings.

The government says the UK is facing a period of "exceptional weather" in the coming days, due to a combination of high tides, heavy rains and strong winds

There are 188 flood warnings in place across England and Wales, including 21 severe warnings meaning there is a danger to life.

Parts of southern England are only just recovering from widespread flooding before Christmas while coastal areas across the UK suffered heavy flooding following fierce storms in early December.

Asked about the budget cuts, which were first announced in October, spokesman Peter Fox said the Environment Agency was having to save money and reduce staff numbers along with the rest of the public sector.

'Frontline response'

But he told BBC News it would seek to "protect front-line responses and flood incident management" and provide the "best services" possible with the reduced resources available.

The organisation, which has an annual budget of £1.2bn, is to reduce staff numbers from 11,250 to about 9,700.

Its chief executive Paul Leinster told the environment journal ENDS that it would have an effect on its capacity to support flood defence.

"All of our work on mapping and modelling and new developments in things like flood warning will also have to be resized," he said.

"And we're looking at a proportionate reduction in the number of people in flood risk management."

The government has provided an extra £120m in funding for flood risk management schemes in response to frequent incidents in recent years.

But the BBC's environment analyst Roger Harrabin said MPs have warned that flooding budgets do not match the risk to communities, especially as climate change was expected to bring more extreme weather.