An MP has secured a Parliamentary debate on the impact of devastating floods in Northumberland.

Work to replace shingle on an East Sussex beach is under way to protect hundreds of low-lying properties and the railway from coastal flooding.

A plan for a prison on the site of a former RAF base is facing delays after a legal challenge revealed vital information had not been included.

The Ministry of Justice omitted a flood risk assessment when it lodged the application with North Norfolk Council for the RAF Coltishall site. The council, which approved the plans, also failed to notice until a legal challenge to the decision uncovered it.

Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) is today setting out plans to contribute at least £5 million to a scheme to support households in England which face a particularly high risk of flooding but which are not protected by traditional community level defences.

Insurers have called on the UK Government to act on the recommendations of Sir Michael Pitt’s report into the 2007 summer floods. Sir Michael’s report concluded that flood defences must be taken more seriously.

Britain's flood defences are inadequate to deal with inundations on the scale seen last year, largely owing to confusion over which government agencies should take responsibility, an official review will say today.

Details of how the proposed Floods and Water Bill would ensure the country is better prepared to deal with surface water flooding in the future, will today be outlined by Environment Minister Phil Woolas.

Half a million properties will be uninsurable while many owners of new homes will find it increasingly difficult to obtain cover unless there is better protection against flooding, insurers will warn this week. The Association of British Insurers will caution that widespread and affordable insurance will become history unless the government develops a long-term strategy for managing flood risk.

PPS25: Development and Flood Risk Practice Guide - Published in June 2008, this replaces the Development and Flood Risk: A Practice Guide Companion to PPS25 'Living Draft' - A Consultation Paper published on 19 February 2007.

This practice guide is complementary to Planning Policy Statement 25: Development and Flood Risk (PPS25) and provides guidelines on how to implement development and flood risk policies by the land use planning system. The guide also includes working examples through case studies.

A year ago this month, Hull, a city of more than a quarter of a million people, was hit by a flood of almost biblical proportions. The rain fell at an astonishing rate – 18 Olympic-sized swimming pools every second – and when it finally stopped, 17,000 homes and 92 schools were damaged, many beyond repair. Thousands of Hull families are still putting their lives back together, with little help from the rest of the country.