Funding for vital flood defences has dried up, the public spending watchdog declared today as flooding claimed the lives of three people across the country.

The National Audit Office (NAO) has warned that councils lack the necessary technical expertise to carry out new responsibilities to identify flood risk and target investment.

‘Local knowledge of surface water flood risk is far less advanced than national information on risk of flooding from rivers and the sea,' the national auditor said.

The NAO said ministers must increase flood defence spending by an average of £20m-per-year just to maintain the current level of protection over the next 25 years.

The annual cost of flood damage in England alone stands at £1.1bn and is expected to rise as more than 5.2m properties are currently at risk. But just a third of councils told auditors they possessed the required technical expertise.

‘Greater local discretion over how funding is targeted has the potential to improve value for money in flood risk management,' auditor general Amyas Morse said. ‘Local bodies will have to meet the new expectations placed on them – including that of raising investment locally – while under the pressure of delivering on other newly devolved responsibilities.

‘If these challenges are not met, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs' (DEFRA) reforms will have failed to fulfil their potential to increase levels of investment in flood management and value for money to the taxpayer.'

A review of the devastation caused by the 2007 floods, carried out by Sir Michael Pitt, resulted in 92 recommendations aimed at clarifying the roles and responsibilities of flood risk management authorities.

The Government legislated in 2010 to implement the Pitt Review's findings – placing new responsibilities on unitary and county councils to strategically manage and coordinate flood risk.

But the Environment Agency – which is the body nationally responsible for the strategic overview of flood risk management – saw its annual budget cut by £100m in last year's spending review as the coalition looked to reduce the deficit.

Responding to the report, Margaret Hodge MP, chair of the Commons public accounts committee, warned that ‘a huge funding gap' had opened up whereby the level of investment needed was rising but budgets had been cut.

She said: ‘[DEFRA] hopes that for private sources to fill this gap, but this will have to increase dramatically as the private sector currently contributes on average less than £3m of the [£660m-plus] overall spend each year.'

A DEFRA spokesman said: ‘We've reformed the funding system to allow the number of flood defence schemes to be increased and give local people greater choice and control over protecting their community from flooding.

‘Under the new partnership funding system, the most at-risk and deprived areas can receive more money for flood defence schemes with funding from the private sector whenever possible.'

Click here for the report:

http://www.nao.org.uk/publications/1012/flood_management.aspx