The Environment Agency reported on 30 September 2026 that a £42 million flood scheme had opened to protect Tonbridge and Hildenborough. It said the expanded Leigh flood storage area and new Hildenborough defences would reduce flood risk to 1,870 homes and 575 businesses, with benefits for communities downstream on the River Medway.

According to the release, storage capacity rose by around 23 per cent after the maximum stored water level at the control structure was raised by 55 centimetres, allowing it to hold approximately 7.4 million cubic metres. The Hildenborough works include a 98-metre embankment across the floodplain, a new pumping station on the Hawden Stream and a sheet-piled wall. The agency said about 180 Hildenborough homes flooded in 2013 would benefit directly.

Simon Curd, the agency's flood-risk manager for Kent, said the structure was intended to keep reducing flood risk for the next 50 years, and noted the work was completed while the storage area stayed operational. The release also described social-value benefits of more than £23.7 million and advised residents to check their flood risk and sign up for warnings.