The Institution of Civil Engineers has censured the government for leaving Britain’s infrastructure vulnerable to crises such as flooding and terrorist attacks

In its latest State of the Nation report, published on Wednesday, the body criticises the “piecemeal” approach to protecting the nation’s infrastructure and calls for a single point of authority to co-ordinate resilience work.

The authors want regulators to be given extra responsibility for protecting electricity and water supplies, and a more robust maintenance programme.

Alan Stilwell, the leader of the inquiry, said:

“We should be under no illusions – there are dangerous weaknesses in our critical infrastructure and utilities networks.”

The report comes the week after official figures revealed one in six English homes is at risk of flooding. The Environment Agency said flood damage to businesses and homes could cost £4bn a year by 2035 and called for the annual flood defence budget to be doubled to £1bn.

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