Between 2003 and 2009, the government spent over GBP 900 million to reduce the risk of flooding for over 250 000 households. Most of the available funding was spent on improving existing flood defences or keeping them in good working order. But out of 29 million homes and other properties in England, 5.2 million remain at risk of flooding, with 490 000 properties at a significant risk of flooding from rivers or the sea. Infrastructure at risk includes critical national infrastructure assets, including 55% of pumping stations and treatment works, 28% of gas infrastructure, 20% of railways, 14% of electricity infrastructure and 10% of major roads. The ratio would be reduced only to 7:1 if expenditures were to increase at an annual average of GBP 20 million and would remain robust, at 4:1, even if expenditures were to increase at GBP 50 million per year. These benefit-cost ratios are considerably higher than those for other major (priority) public expenditures, especially for infrastructure investments such as transport and energy.