The National Farmers Union (NFU) believes the Government has made the right decision in including the role farmers play in managing floods, such as those that devastated north Shropshire in January.

The Government has announced a multi-billion pound investment in setting out its new long-term plan to tackle flooding.

Defra Secretary of State George Eustice laid the national Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management (FCERM) Strategy for England before Parliament on July 14.

The NFU is currently developing its own strategy in this area to showcase how farmers can best improve their resilience to water-related risks and made it clear that farmers and growers need to be at the heart of flood management policy.

The NFU also believe farmers should be properly rewarded for their role in managing future floods.

The NFU insists the responsibility to carry out and recover from natural flood solutions, such as intentionally flooding farmland, cannot lie solely with the farmer.

NFU deputy president Stuart Roberts said: “We are pleased to see the Government recognise the vital role of farmers in managing floods, as well as the importance of an integrated water management strategy for England.

“Farmers understand they have a role to play in preventing floods reaching towns and cities, but the strategy needs to ensure we have businesses that can withstand these events in the first place, then quickly recover to return to our core business of producing food for the nation.”