Download or read book Building and maintaining river and coastal flood defences in England written by Great Britain: National Audit Office and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2007-06-15 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Around 469,000 households and business in England are at risk of flooding and this figure is likely to rise of the next century because of factors such as climate change. The Environment Agency is responsible for managing the risk from main rivers and the sea in England and Wales. This report looks at their maintenance of 24,000 miles of flood defences and the construction of new defences. It notes the progress made since the last report in 2001 (HC 299 2000-01) and sets out the areas where there is room for further improvement.