DD1250 Drain London Programme 2014-16

A predicted 1.4 million properties in London are at risk from surface water flooding caused by heavy rainfall, including much of London’s social, transport, emergency and utility infrastructure. Drain London is a GLA-led, £3.2m DEFRA-funded, London-wide programme to identify, prioritise and manage areas and assets at surface water flood risk. Exceptional rainfall in early 2014 has demonstrated the need for the Mayor to continue championing effective surface water management.

MD455 delegated authority from the Mayor to the Executive Director for Development, Enterprise and Environment to approve the Drain London work programme and associated expenditure. DD899 approved expenditure up to the end of March 2014. Approval is now sought to commit the remaining funds (approximately £1.06million) to the end of March 2016.

To date, the programme has enabled the creation of a pipeline of projects that are expected to secure up to £10 million of investment in flood risk management infrastructure. GLA officers have been successful in securing cost savings in excess of £100k, encouraging other partners to fund projects and obtaining more than £600k match funding. This has allowed the programme to be extended. The remaining budget will be used to complete existing projects, extend existing workstreams (for example flood risk assessments of critical infrastructure) and initiate new workstreams on developing a sustainable drainage action plan for London, undertaking drainage masterplans for OAPFS, undertaking a groundwater scoping study and co-funding green infrastructure.