{"id":368,"date":"2024-01-06T08:25:12","date_gmt":"2024-01-06T08:25:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dhwnews.com\/?p=368"},"modified":"2024-01-06T08:25:12","modified_gmt":"2024-01-06T08:25:12","slug":"defra-response-to-complaint","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dhwnews.com\/?p=368","title":{"rendered":"Defra response to complaint"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is a letter dated 4-1-2024 that I received from Defra\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Thank you for your email of 26 October to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and
\nCommunities about flood protection funding. Your email was passed to Defra and I am replying
\nas the Minister responsible for this policy area.
\nYou mentioned that your ward is currently unprotected against flooding and has flooded several
\ntimes in the past. The Government recognises the severe impacts flooding can have on
\npeople\u2019s lives and livelihoods and I sympathise with anyone who has gone through this
\nexperience.
\nAs referred to in your email, the Environment Agency (EA) and the Royal Borough of Windsor
\n& Maidenhead (RBWM) are currently working on a flood alleviation scheme within the borough
\n– the Datchet to Hythe End flood improvement measures. This project will provide flood risk
\nprotection to the communities that would previously have benefitted from the River Thames
\nScheme\u2019s third channel.
\nAs you explain, the River Thames Scheme originally comprised three channels to alleviate
\nflooding across the RBWM and three boroughs in Surrey, along with Richmond and Kingston.
\nThe original scheme was being funded by Government grant in aid and significant contributions
\nfrom Surrey County Council (of \u00a3237 million) and RBWM (of \u00a354 million) along with funding
\nfrom other partners.
\nYou also mentioned that the decision to remove the channel from the scheme that would have
\nbenefitted your ward was made without consultation or notice. I understand from the EA that in
\nMarch 2020, RBWM informed the project\u2019s Sponsor Group (which included the leaders of the
\nseven local authorities involved) that they could not make the \u00a354 million contribution to the
\nscheme. At the project\u2019s next meeting in July 2020, RBWM confirmed that whilst it would be
\nable to contribute, it would be at the lower amount of \u00a310 million. The Sponsor Group decided
\nunanimously to progress with a two-channel scheme instead of pausing development to give
\nRBWM additional time to identify a funding solution. This decision was also supported by the
\nCabinet Member and Leader of RBWM at the meeting.
\nI appreciate that this change to the River Thames Scheme must have been disappointing news
\nfor your ward. The EA has informed me that the two-channel scheme still provides flood risk
\nreduction in RBWM. Work has continued at pace on the scheme and the EA will be holding a
\nstatutory consultation on the Development Consent Order in January.
\nYou also stated your view that your ward has been disadvantaged by the Government\u2019s
\npartnership funding policy. The partnership funding policy (introduced in 2011) aims to create
\ngreater partnership working between authorities, sectors, communities and others with an
\ninterest in tackling flooding and coastal erosion. It provides a fair and consistent approach for
\nallocating grant in aid and securing wider benefits where others stand to benefit from a defence
\nscheme. This can include local and other government funding where applicable.
\nDefra undertook an independent evaluation of the partnership funding policy in 2018, which
\nwas published in May 2019. The evaluation found that the partnership funding approach was
\ngenerally successful in meeting its policy objectives, despite some operational
\nchallenges, having enabled more schemes to be delivered than would have been possible
\nunder the previous approach of Government-only funding.
\nMany thanks for contacting me on this important issue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is a letter dated 4-1-2024 that I received from Defra\u00a0 Thank you for your email of 26 October to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities about flood protection funding….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nDefra response to complaint - DHWNEWS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dhwnews.com\/?p=368\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Defra response to complaint - DHWNEWS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This is a letter dated 4-1-2024 that I received from Defra\u00a0 Thank you for your email of 26 October to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities about flood protection funding....\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dhwnews.com\/?p=368\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"DHWNEWS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-01-06T08:25:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"ecwlarcombe\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"ecwlarcombe\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dhwnews.com\\\/?p=368#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dhwnews.com\\\/?p=368\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"ecwlarcombe\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dhwnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2f696cd1eb9c322931f8d0e39fdf8017\"},\"headline\":\"Defra response to complaint\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-01-06T08:25:12+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dhwnews.com\\\/?p=368\"},\"wordCount\":548,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dhwnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Uncategorized\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/dhwnews.com\\\/?p=368#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dhwnews.com\\\/?p=368\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dhwnews.com\\\/?p=368\",\"name\":\"Defra response to complaint - DHWNEWS\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dhwnews.com\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2024-01-06T08:25:12+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dhwnews.com\\\/?p=368#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/dhwnews.com\\\/?p=368\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dhwnews.com\\\/?p=368#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dhwnews.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Defra response to complaint\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dhwnews.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dhwnews.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"DHWNEWS\",\"description\":\"Datchet, Horton & Wraysbury News\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dhwnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dhwnews.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dhwnews.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"DHWNEWS\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dhwnews.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dhwnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/dhwnews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/10\\\/dhwlogo1.png?fit=357%2C334&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/dhwnews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/10\\\/dhwlogo1.png?fit=357%2C334&ssl=1\",\"width\":357,\"height\":334,\"caption\":\"DHWNEWS\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dhwnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dhwnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2f696cd1eb9c322931f8d0e39fdf8017\",\"name\":\"ecwlarcombe\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/0ec4f2fe12dab3e1b48c39a4b0633913d283908bffb9e52165186f1dc7fcee8d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/0ec4f2fe12dab3e1b48c39a4b0633913d283908bffb9e52165186f1dc7fcee8d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/0ec4f2fe12dab3e1b48c39a4b0633913d283908bffb9e52165186f1dc7fcee8d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"ecwlarcombe\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dhwnews.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Defra response to complaint - DHWNEWS","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/dhwnews.com\/?p=368","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Defra response to complaint - DHWNEWS","og_description":"This is a letter dated 4-1-2024 that I received from Defra\u00a0 Thank you for your email of 26 October to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities about flood protection funding....","og_url":"https:\/\/dhwnews.com\/?p=368","og_site_name":"DHWNEWS","article_published_time":"2024-01-06T08:25:12+00:00","author":"ecwlarcombe","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"ecwlarcombe","Estimated reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/dhwnews.com\/?p=368#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dhwnews.com\/?p=368"},"author":{"name":"ecwlarcombe","@id":"https:\/\/dhwnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2f696cd1eb9c322931f8d0e39fdf8017"},"headline":"Defra response to complaint","datePublished":"2024-01-06T08:25:12+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/dhwnews.com\/?p=368"},"wordCount":548,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/dhwnews.com\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Uncategorized"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/dhwnews.com\/?p=368#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/dhwnews.com\/?p=368","url":"https:\/\/dhwnews.com\/?p=368","name":"Defra response to complaint - DHWNEWS","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dhwnews.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2024-01-06T08:25:12+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/dhwnews.com\/?p=368#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/dhwnews.com\/?p=368"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/dhwnews.com\/?p=368#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/dhwnews.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Defra response to complaint"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/dhwnews.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/dhwnews.com\/","name":"DHWNEWS","description":"Datchet, Horton & Wraysbury News","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/dhwnews.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/dhwnews.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/dhwnews.com\/#organization","name":"DHWNEWS","url":"https:\/\/dhwnews.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/dhwnews.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dhwnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/dhwlogo1.png?fit=357%2C334&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dhwnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/dhwlogo1.png?fit=357%2C334&ssl=1","width":357,"height":334,"caption":"DHWNEWS"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/dhwnews.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/dhwnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2f696cd1eb9c322931f8d0e39fdf8017","name":"ecwlarcombe","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0ec4f2fe12dab3e1b48c39a4b0633913d283908bffb9e52165186f1dc7fcee8d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0ec4f2fe12dab3e1b48c39a4b0633913d283908bffb9e52165186f1dc7fcee8d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0ec4f2fe12dab3e1b48c39a4b0633913d283908bffb9e52165186f1dc7fcee8d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"ecwlarcombe"},"url":"https:\/\/dhwnews.com\/?author=1"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dhwnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dhwnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dhwnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dhwnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dhwnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=368"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dhwnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":372,"href":"https:\/\/dhwnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368\/revisions\/372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dhwnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dhwnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dhwnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}