Mr Laurence Robertson (Tewkesbury) (Con) I beg to move, That this
House has considered the matter of flooding. It is a pleasure to
serve under your chairmanship, Mr Sharma. In 2007, Tewkesbury and
many other areas of the country suffered the worst floods we can
remember. Some areas that had previously never flooded were
overcome by water from rivers and water running off from land.
Houses and business premises were flooded. Ironically, water
services were lost, as the...Request free trial
(Tewkesbury) (Con)
I beg to move,
That this House has considered the matter of flooding.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Sharma. In
2007, Tewkesbury and many other areas of the country suffered the
worst floods we can remember. Some areas that had previously
never flooded were overcome by water from rivers and water
running off from land. Houses and business premises were flooded.
Ironically, water services were lost, as the Mythe waterworks
were overcome by water. Electricity supplies were lost to many,
as the Walham substation was overcome.
As a result, around 1,000 households were displaced in my
constituency. People, including the elderly, the terminally ill
and families, had to live in caravans. They were out of their
homes for up to a year. Tewkesbury hospital had to be evacuated
and, sadly, there was loss of life as a result of that flooding.
King Charles—Prince Charles as he then was—and the then Duchess
of Cornwall visited Priors Park to see the damage and lift
spirits. In making that reference, I want to wish King Charles
the very best.
That was 17 years ago and, although we have not suffered flooding
to the same extent in my area, we do experience flooding on a
regular basis, including a few weeks ago. In my area, that may be
unavoidable to an extent, as Tewkesbury sits on the confluence of
two main rivers—the Severn and the Avon—and other rivers are in
the area. There is no surprise when the area floods, although the
inevitability of it is no comfort to those whose homes are
flooded.
(Strangford) (DUP)
I thank the hon. Gentleman for introducing the debate. He is
right to outline the issues. He said the last time there was a
massive flood was 17 years ago. In my constituency, floods that
are supposed to happen every 100 years now happen every 10. Does
he agree that policy and strategy must be not only for England
but for the whole of the United Kingdom, when the floods are
happening everywhere?
Mr Robertson
I am going to say why it is important to have both national and
local strategies.
(Mid Norfolk) (Con)
I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing the debate. To his
point, in my part of Mid Norfolk, where the clue is in the
name—it is not on the coast—we have seen in the past 10 years an
extremely high rate of flooding. In 2020, 200 houses were flooded
with sewage; two months ago, 100 houses in Attleborough were
affected . This is getting worse and worse. It is partly climate
change, yes, but also house dumping and inappropriate investment
in infrastructure. Does he agree that, as well as a national
strategy, we need to ensure that in such counties, where 38
agencies have responsibility, somebody has to be held to account
to avoid the flooding of our constituents’ houses?
Mr Robertson
My hon. Friend is right, and makes a good point I will touch on.
Although some flooding is occasionally inevitable, we can take
action to avoid some of the worst excesses. Since 2007, a number
of schemes have been implemented in my area, at Deerhurst,
Longlevens and Westbury, and some minor improvements have been
made elsewhere, but we were flooded again a few weeks ago. People
in Sandhurst and Tewkesbury itself suffered when their homes were
flooded. People in those areas feel that more could have been
done to prevent the effects of heavy rainfall.
(East Yorkshire) (Con)
I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this important debate.
Does he agree that, in places where farmland regularly floods,
there is a case for saying that farmers should be paid for
storing water on behalf of the state?
Mr Robertson
Yes. My right hon. Friend has anticipated a point that I am about
to make, so I thank him for that intervention.
As I said, schemes have been put in place and grants have been
made available to people who have been flooded—homeowners,
businesses and farmers—and that is welcome, as is the further
compensation that some people can claim. Claiming tends to be a
rather cumbersome exercise, however, with professional help
required to access it.
(Somerton and Frome) (LD)
I congratulate the hon. Member for Tewkesbury on securing this
important debate. Flood victims across the country have been
affected by Storm Henk, but none more so than people in Frome in
my constituency. So far, they have been unable to access some of
the property flood resilience repair grants, or to floodproof
their homes and businesses. Does he agree that the Government
must urgently provide access to that scheme so that constituents
such as mine can make their properties more resilient against
floods?
Mr Robertson
I entirely agree. That is a very good point. Making it available
is one thing; enabling people to access it is something else. I
entirely agree with the hon. Lady.
(York Central)
(Lab/Co-op)
Will the hon. Member give way?
Mr Robertson
By all means.
I am very grateful to the hon. Member; he is making an excellent
speech. I want to quickly refer to businesses in my constituency,
many of which have not been able to trade for around four months
because of the need to dry out after the flooding. Does he agree
that, where businesses are affected, there should be an immediate
suspension of all the business rates that they are due to pay?
Does he also agree that we need clarity around the Bellwin scheme
to make sure that it is not based on the number of businesses
that flood but is for every single business that floods?
Mr Robertson
Absolutely. That is right. Business rates are one of those
strange things; businesses pay without having made a profit. It
is an unusual tax, so I certainly think that a lot of thought
should be given to that. I also agree that businesses have to be
looked at individually, as households should be looked at
individually.
When flooding looks likely, many people who are registered are
warned about the problems that are coming, so that they can make
preparations, if possible. One of the actions they can take is to
place sandbags around their properties. Sandbags are usually
available from the local council, but sometimes there is an
inadequate supply; the bags might not be filled with sand when
people pick them up, so people have to effectively construct
their own protective sandbags. The problem with that is that time
is of the essence, and not everybody has the capability to do
that—old people and vulnerable people, for example, are unable to
do that for themselves—so they require help.
Unfortunately, many of those who have been flooded feel somewhat
left on their own to fight against nature. They do not feel that
everything that could be done has been done; they understand that
they live in flood-risk areas, but they would like to receive a
little more help. Of course, the Government and the Environment
Agency have plans in place to help, and while macro-strategies
are fine and necessary, micromanagement is sometimes needed so
that households do not feel left out or ignored. We have the
Environment Agency, the borough councils, the county councils and
various other organisations that have been referred to, but
perhaps we need a clearer steer on who is responsible for
what.
I mentioned that there is a certain inevitability that flooding
will take place in some areas, but in my area, it is felt that we
make things much worse through excessive building. As I said,
Tewkesbury town sits at the confluence of two rivers, and other
rivers are nearby, so the water table is quite often very high,
which makes flooding more likely. The more fields that are there
for the water to rest on, the less likely it is that homes and
business will be flooded. Conversely, when those fields are built
on, the water has fewer places to go and to rest. In other words,
fields are prevented from doing their job by being built on, yet
I am informed that Tewkesbury Borough Council—in an area that
floods so badly—is the fastest growing area of England outside
London for development. In fact, in recent years, my constituency
has had four times the constituency average for house building.
That is not 10% or 15% as much; it is four times as much. While I
am pleased to see businesses expanding and more people coming to
live in the area, and while I recognise the need for housing, I
wonder whether we can cope with all that growth in one area.
Flooding around the town of Tewkesbury, and at Sandhurst,
Longford and other areas, would tend to suggest that the problem
has been made worse by the building that has taken place.
(Congleton) (Con)
My hon. Friend is referring to exactly the situation in my
constituency, where there has been a very high level of new build
over recent years, so we have seen increasing flooding. In
particular, a constituent of mine who lives adjacent to a new
build seems unable to prove exactly why he is suffering that
flooding, and yet this new build has occurred. Does my hon.
Friend agree that it is absolutely critical that a local
authority, particularly one that has granted permission for that
new build, should have clearer responsibilities as the lead local
flood authority to help constituents in that distressing
situation to resolve the problem?
Mr Robertson
I agree with my hon. Friend, and I am very glad she made that
point—there certainly should be that responsibility for the
infrastructure. Building is sometimes allowed on appeal, which
makes it even worse; where is the line of responsibility then?
The Environment Agency has responsibility for drawing up maps and
identifying flood plains, but that system is not working and has
not worked for a long time, mainly because the system does not
take water displacement into account. In other words, it is not
just about whether the new houses that are being built flood, but
whether building on those fields will cause other properties to
flood. As well as deploying property flood resilience measures,
which we should, there should be a detailed consideration of
whether sustainable urban drainage systems, for example, work,
and if they do, at what threshold they should become mandatory
for developers.
(Havant) (Con)
I thank my hon. Friend for securing the debate. He quite rightly
talked about responsibility being a focal point. In relation to
flood defence work and preparation in Havant, we benefit from the
work of Coastal Partners, which is a regional body supported by
local councils and funded by the Environment Agency, among
others. Will my hon. Friend join me in calling on the Minister
and the Government to continue their support for bodies such as
Coastal Partners, because they provide a regional focus for flood
defence and protection work?
Mr Robertson
My hon. Friend makes a very good point that ties in with what
everybody is saying. The fact that there have been so many
interventions shows what an important subject this is.
(Gloucester) (Con)
It is very appropriate that this debate is led by my
distinguished neighbour, my hon. Friend the Member for Tewkesbury
(Mr Robertson), whose constituency has consistently suffered
worst in every major flood for some time. He is making a strong
case for responsibility for flooding, and of course he and I know
that the protections since 2007—the Mythe waterways, the Walham
substation and the Horsbere Brook flooding programme, all of
which are in his constituency but on the edge of mine—have made a
huge difference.
Does my hon. Friend agree that there are some improvements on
Alney Island, which is in my constituency but close to his, that
the flooding Minister and the Environment Agency agreed to,
particularly fixing leaks in the flood wall and extending its
height? Does he also agree that the environment Minister here
today, who helped to create the Severn partnership some years ago
with my hon. Friend and me, could encourage the flooding
Minister, our hon. Friend the Member for Keighley (), to meet all of the 40 or so
MPs of the Severn partnership as soon as possible to consider the
creation of a new reservoir in the Welsh hills?
Mr Robertson
My hon. Friend and neighbour makes several good points. I am sure
that the Minister has heard that and we can take up those issues.
This issue is not going to go away. If anything, it is going to
get more prevalent. Above all, we need to rethink how we identify
areas that constitute not just flood plain but flood risk, with
particular reference not only to the proposed new properties but
to existing ones. In those areas, we should avoid any further
development.
We then come to the problem of water management. At the end of
2022, some people in my area had their Christmas completely
ruined by failures in the drainage systems, which resulted in raw
sewage re-entering their houses. Not only were their houses
damaged by these events, but people had to move out of their
homes while they were being repaired over the Christmas period.
In some cases, pumping stations had failed and homeowners had to
pay the price of that failure.
We need to have a clear policy in place with regard to new
buildings. Should they be able to tap into existing drainage
systems, or should there be a threshold beyond which they need to
ensure that extra drainage capacity is in place before building
commences? That is a point that I raised with the then Prime
Minister in 2021-22. It is not just about large-scale
developments; sometimes building an extra house here or there
can, over time, cause problems for others in the area. Making
sure that watercourses are clear obviously helps to reduce the
risk of flooding. Councils have a responsibility to ensure that
riparian owners carry out the correct amount of work, but this is
not always the case.
That takes us to the question of river dredging—an issue that I
raised in the main Chamber recently, when my hon. Friend the
Member for Keighley said that he would look into the matter. I
understand that dredging has taken place in the Somerset levels
and has been a success. I do not intend to pretend that I am an
expert on dredging—I am not at all—but it seems logical that if a
river can contain more water without bursting its banks, surely
that has to be helpful in avoiding flooding.
My hon. Friend is making an excellent point. Does he agree that
it is really important that the Department—I am grateful that the
Environment Minister is in her place—understands that rivers’
principal function is to drain water to the sea, and that our
ditches’ and watercourses’ principal function is to do that? At
times in Norfolk, it is beginning to feel as though the
environmental agencies are more concerned with keeping them full
of mud and plants than making sure that they fulfil their primary
purpose, leaving constituents—farmers and people with sewage in
their houses—to pay the price. We need to remember that drainage
is about drainage, first and foremost.
Mr Robertson
Absolutely. That is why rivers run to the sea. It is a very good
point.
One of the arguments made against dredging—I am afraid it is on
the Government’s website—is that clearing one part of a river
just pushes the water downstream, but the logical conclusion to
that argument would be to say that we should never place flood
defences anywhere, which we are obviously not going to say.
Rather, it is one good reason that we need both national and
local approaches to the problem. For example, looking at the
River Severn as a whole, we might come to the conclusion that the
whole river needs dredging so that the water can be moved out to
the sea as quickly as possible, as my hon. Friend suggests. I
know that dredging is controversial, but we need to have a
conversation about its benefits, and a proper analysis carried
out by the Government and the Environment Agency.
Of course, it is not just buildings that flood at times of heavy
rainfall, but roads. In the recent floods, three of the four main
roads that serve the town of Tewkesbury were closed, leaving just
one to cope with the traffic. Further down the A38, towards
Gloucester, the road was closed, causing further inconvenience to
motorists and bus passengers. These roads have been closed a
number of times in the past, so it is no surprise that they were
closed again. Perhaps the only surprise is that little or nothing
has been done to protect the roads, so we need to consider what
further steps we can take to avoid road closures in the
future.
(North Shropshire) (LD)
The hon. Gentleman has made some excellent points. In my
constituency, which, like his, floods frequently, people are cut
off for days on end. Even when their houses are dry, they are
unable to get about, do their business or get to work. People
walk across fields in the middle of the night to find their cars.
Does he agree that having a plan from the council to make sure
that people can move around safely when there is flooding is so
important for resilience?
Mr Robertson
Absolutely. The hon. Lady makes a very good point. It is
important that we are able to do that, for all sorts of
reasons.
Farms also flood. Although there is compensation for farmers for
non-insured damage, perhaps we could, as my right hon. Friend the
Member for East Yorkshire ( ) said, consider expanding the
schemes to encourage farmers to do more to help contain the water
on their land in order to avoid flooding causing damage to
others. That could be part of the environmental land management
scheme, which they are currently being encouraged to take up.
I thank the hon. Member for giving way again. He has already
mentioned that Somerset is home to a large number of wetlands
and, indeed, the levels. That can help communities affected by
floods, by creating temporary storage areas that slow the flow of
floodwater. Does he agree that we should be supporting the
engineering of those types of management defences to help aid
communities and boost flood resilience?
Mr Robertson
That is certainly is what we should do. I ask the hon. Member’s
forgiveness for not going into her point in more detail, as I
will have to wind up in just a minute.
In closing, I will say clearly and loudly that Tewkesbury is well
and truly open for business. We are pleased to welcome visitors,
but we need to take steps that will help to prevent people’s
homes flooding in future and roads being closed. I have outlined
a few thoughts and suggestions, and I hope the Minister and the
Government will take them seriously and consider ways in which
they can be implemented.
4.20pm
(Tamworth) (Lab)
It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Mr Sharma. I thank
the hon. Member for Tewkesbury (Mr Robertson) for calling such an
important debate. My constituency of Tamworth has a long history
of flooding, but Storm Henk was the third most serious incident
in the area. Tamworth has 8.8 km of linear flood defences made up
of walls, embankments and other structures, such as outfalls and
penstocks. As it stands, 3 km of those defences are from the
1960s and require improvement as they do not meet the design
standard of today.
The Environment Agency estimates that 2,205 residential
properties in the area are at risk, as well as a significant
number of non-residential properties, like the Ventura retail
park. I spoke with the Environment Agency about flood defences
and the fact that there is a need for increased funding. It is
currently putting together a business case, and I hope that areas
such as mine, which are at higher risk and which may get worse
due to climate change, are given their due consideration and the
protections they need. We need to protect homes and businesses in
our constituencies with short, mid and long-term preparations for
flooding.
Next month, I will host a flooding summit with key stakeholders
to review the ways that organisations currently work together and
respond to flooding incidents, and to collaboratively explore
what lessons we have learned, plans for better protection against
future incidents and the practical solutions that can be put in
place now. On a broader level, Labour has laid out plans for a
flood resilience taskforce to improve joined-up thinking and
communication. Can the Minister tell us whether the Government
have similar plans to look at ways in which community groups,
local residents and businesses can link up with those larger
authorities and those with responsibilities, such as the
Environment Agency, to collaboratively work together at a local
and national level, and outline how we can respond in order to
live with flooding and learn how to deal with it better in the
future?
4.23pm
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food
and Rural Affairs ()
I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Tewkesbury (Mr Robertson)
for securing the debate. Given this is a short debate, the number
of interventions truly demonstrates how important the matter is;
so many hon. Members are standing up for their constituents. I
was the flooding Minister and worked closely with almost everyone
in this room to make sure that we are developing a nation that is
resilient to this ever-changing demand because of our climate. I
am no longer the floods Minister; that is the Under-Secretary of
State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, my hon. Friend the
Member for Keighley (), who I am standing in for
during this debate—I will certainly pass on some messages to
him.
I clearly sympathise with anyone who has ever been flooded, going
back 17 years in the Tewkesbury area. Coming from Somerset, I am
well-versed in flooding, and the angst and hardship it can cause.
As a number of hon. Members have touched on, we are seeing more
extreme weather. We have had a whole succession of storms, with
Storm Babet, Storm Ciarán and Storm Henk since October, bringing
into focus the fact that about 4,400 or so properties were
flooded. But we must remember that, as my hon. Friend the Member
for Gloucester () pointed out, almost a
quarter of a million properties were protected in those areas
that sadly saw flooding. That is the intention behind what the
Government are doing with their floods policy.
We have a very strong policy statement to make this nation more
resilient, with 40 actions and five ambitious policies stemming
from that. Indeed, we have doubled the flooding budget from that
of the first tranche to £5.2 billion in this six-year spending
round—and that covers coastal erosion as well.
In Norfolk certainly, the internal drainage boards are the most
expert bodies at handling drainage. Could I make the gentle
suggestion that we pay for them through some of the Environment
Agency’s substantial funding, rather than through council
surcharges, which are very stretched?
The drainage boards play a very important role in all of this.
They play an important role in many cases, including the
provision of nature-based solutions and regulating water levels,
as was touched on earlier.
We have allocated a whole raft of funds to help. We announced the
frequently flooded allowance, which I really pushed as the floods
Minister. That has enabled a whole range of projects that
previously did not qualify for floods funding to get off the
ground. Because of that fund, we have finally seen spades in the
ground in Toronto Close—in the constituency of my hon. Friend the
Member for Worcester (Mr Walker), who sent me a picture just
yesterday—and a whole range of other colleagues have got projects
off the ground.
We have got our natural flood management programme running,
because that is another way of managing the water, as well as the
£200 million coastal innovation fund. We also have specific
pathway projects, one of which is working in the Severn area, to
look at more adaptive ways of coping with flooding in the future,
which touch on many areas mentioned by my hon. Friend the Member
for Tewkesbury.
I hope everyone is aware that we have listened to the issues
relating to flooded farmland; we have had comments about
Yorkshire in particular. On 4 January, new actions were
introduced under the environmental land management scheme,
particularly with regard to grassland management and arable land
management for flood resilience, as well as water storage on
farms—with decent payments. I urge my hon. Friend the Member for
Tewkesbury to have a look at that, because we have been listening
to our farmers.
We have also listened regarding the issue of sustainable urban
drainage, which has been one of my pet subjects since I have been
in Parliament. Getting that switched on is in our plan for water,
and we are working with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing
and Communities to speed up and switch on schedule 3; again, my
hon. Friend the Member for Tewkesbury touched on that, and it is
so important for regulating water in our housing
developments.
Have the Government have reached a conclusion on the
effectiveness of dredging the River Parrett?
As I come from Somerset, I know that that has been a much-debated
issue since the big floods in 2014. A whole range of management
processes have helped to control the flooding in Somerset, and
recently we have weathered the storms really well compared with
the past. Dredging is only one small part of the answer; the rest
involves regulating the water, getting the farmers to clear the
ditches—which they can do by law—and slowing the flow on the much
wider areas. All those measures are part of how we regulate the
water.
Lots of our funds have now been switched on to help people who
have recently suffered flooding, and Tewkesbury is included in
some of the areas benefiting from Government support—as I am sure
my hon. Friend the Member for Tewkesbury understands. Our
property flood resilience measures have helped to insulate 90
properties in his area, and I urge other hon. Members to look at
where they could be helpful.
The flood recovery framework has been triggered, and lots of
areas are eligible for that support as a result of the recent
storms, including in Gloucestershire and areas around the
constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Tewkesbury. The
business recovery grant has been triggered, as has the whole
flood recovery framework, which includes discounts for
business.
I have had to speed up, but my message is that this Government
take flooding really seriously. We have been very creative in
listening to people, and with regard to those adaptive pathways,
including that Severn valley partnership. I will pass on the
message to the Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and
Rural Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Keighley, asking him
to meet with all the hard-working MPs up and down the Severn
valley to make sure we have got the system right. We have made
really good progress up and down the Severn and the River Avon,
but that is not to say that there is not more to do, because we
are facing climate change.
Question put and agreed to.
|
