The Environment Agency is calling for early action to implement changes that would achieve a fairer distribution of flood defence spending for communities at risk.
The agency was making its response to government proposals arising from a joint review by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, HM Treasury and the National Assembly for Wales of flood and coastal defence funding, published earlier this year.
The agency's chairman Sir John Harman said: "The existing 70 year old institutional arrangements for flood defence are cumbersome and bureaucratic. They confuse the public make it impossible to address local risks quickly and frequently result in inequality in provision and standards of protection."
He added: "Flood defence is an essential service. We need to focus on timely delivery of sound solutions and we need the flexibility to invest where priorities are highest, providing common standards of defence within the same community."
"We must not let attention be diverted from the need for a major and sustained increase in flood defence funding levels to address historic under-investment and adapting to future climate change."
