5. Flood Crisis Management in England

This chapter addresses the management of flood crises in the UK over the course over the past two decades. The repeated incidents of flooding have encouraged an increasing centralisation of authority, in particular the Environment Agency. Initiatives included also greater coordination between different actors, including weather forecasting, warning systems and flood defence systems. At the same time, centralisation of authority has also encouraged greater politicisation as ministers sought to use the agency as blame magnet during flood events. This highlighted that moves towards greater ‘professionalisation’ and coordination were continuously confronted by questions about the redistributive impact of different flood mitigation schemes.