The Institution of Civil Engineers has censured the government for leaving Britain鈥檚 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 鈥減iecemeal鈥� approach to protecting the nation鈥檚 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:

鈥淲e should be under no illusions 鈥� there are dangerous weaknesses in our critical infrastructure and utilities networks.鈥�

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 拢4bn a year by 2035 and called for the annual flood defence budget to be doubled to 拢1bn.

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