England Under Water

5.2m homes and businesses in England are at risk of flooding 

 A third of England’s most important flood defences are in private hands with more than 1,000 found to be in a poor state and some at risk of “complete performance failure”. Privately owned assets classed as “high consequence” are twice as likely to be in a poor condition as those maintained by the Environment Agency. High-consequence flood defences are the most important because they “contribute to managing flood risk in a location where the consequence on people and property of an asset failing is high”, according to the Environment Agency.

Private owners cannot be forced to make upgrades to the defences, which can involve bills of hundreds of thousands of pounds. The government admits it can only “encourage” third-party owners to do maintenance, though the Environment Agency can carry out emergency repairs if there is a risk to people, property or environment, and try to bill the freeholders afterwards. Even when local authorities do know the owners, they cannot compel them to carry out repairs. 

“All we can do is ask nicely,” said James Mead, a flood and water manager at Sheffield city council,

The defences range from flood walls or embankments to weirs and piers, though many are outfall pipes or culverts – enclosed watercourses that run underneath roads, railways or other property. Some are owned by major landowners such as the crown estate or Network Rail. Others run under private houses and businesses, often unnoticed until something goes wrong.  Some defences rated poor or very poor across England are on land owned by the crown estate, the Queen’s property manager. A spokesperson said the estate did not own the defences nor did it have responsibility for their upkeep, but did not respond when asked who was responsible.

The National Audit Office said the Environment Agency’s plan to beef up England’s flood defences was being undermined by a lack of coordination between the various bodies tasked with maintaining them. With increased flooding one of the greatest risks facing the UK as a result of the climate crisis, this year the government announced £5.2bn to build 2,000 new flood and coastal risk management schemes. Private defence owners will not be eligible to receive any of this money.

Revealed: a third of England’s vital flood defences are in private hands | Flooding | The Guardian

Garrett Hardin made great claims in his book 'Tragedy of the Commons' that only private property can protect the environment. This reveals the weakness of his arguments.