The government has exceeded its flood defence targets by almost 10,000 properties, with almost 62,000 homes and businesses receiving protection over the last two years.
Over £2.65 billion has been invested into flood defences by the government since 2024, resulting in 250 completed projects to repair and replace existing defences and construct new ones.
According to government estimates, more than six million properties in England are at risk from flooding and extreme weather. At least £10.5 billion is being invested over the next 10 years, benefitting around 840,000 properties.
Of the 62,000 properties protected in the last two years, 19,116 were in the South East, 8,893 were in the East of England, and 7,420 were in the East Midlands.
But data from AI company Snowflake and Ordnance Survey (OS) suggest up to 1.2 million at-risk homes fall outside flood protection measures, with high-risk clusters in emerging in specific regions. Yorkshire and the Humber shows the highest concentrations of vulnerable, undefended properties according to the data – a region in which government funding protected 6,400 properties in the last two years.
The data from Snowflake and OS – compiled in the Intelligent Flood Readiness Model – is created by combining OS’s buildings data with a arrange of government data and current flood risk management plans (FRMPs). Based on model analysis of available datasets, the output suggests that as many as 1.2 million buldings in England are at risk of flooding, but fall outside any current flood defenctes.
Surface water flooding is the biggest overlooked threat, with the majority of at-risk buildings exposed to surface water flooding rather than river or coastal flooding.
A contributory factor for at-risk buildings is likely to be that as many as 84% of the undefended properties pre-date 2001, before legislation ensured flood risk was factored into planning permissions.
The data suggests 15% of at-risk premises were built before 2019, with 23% built between 1919 to 1959 – before the at-risk areas became a flood risk.
Individual households appear the most likely to be affected, with 64% of the buildings identified as being at risk classed as residential. High density, multi-unit residential buildings at risk of surface flooding may account for more at-risk households than those in more obviously threatened seafront or riverside locations, according to the model.
By identifying properties that are potentially newly vulnerable as geographic data is updated, tailored cost-effective flood plans can be created at local authority or ward level, or even street-by-street, Snowflake and OS said.
Commenting on the government’s investment into protection, floods minister Emma Hardy said: “Flooding is life-changing – destroying homes, shutting down businesses and leaving communities facing months of heartbreak.
“This government has invested a record £2.65 billion to repair flood defences and build new ones.”