Flood defences: Treasury announces £2.3bn for projects

The £2.3bn investment, which is not new money, will help prevent £30bn damage in areas including the Thames and Humber Estuaries in the next six years.

The government has also outlined spending on other infrastructure such as roads, rail and housing this week ahead of Wednesday's Autumn Statement.

Labour accused ministers of "playing catch up on flood defences".

Shadow environment secretary Maria Eagle said the government had cut the flood protection budget by more than £100m a year, and was "only promising to put some of that back towards the end of the next Parliament".

The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) welcomed the funding, but said maintenance of existing defences was being neglected.

The CCC - an independent body that advises the UK government - told BBC News only a quarter of flood defences were being maintained fully. This means the remainder will degrade and need replacing at extra expense.

The condition of assets was in decline before the storms of last winter, mirroring the reduction in maintenance spending over the period, it said.

According to the CCC, the Environment Agency now had 800 fewer flood risk management staff than in 2010-11, including in asset management and incident control.Click for video