The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food
and Rural Affairs (Rebecca Pow) Storm Babet has affected a number
of communities across the UK, with the worst impacts being seen in
Scotland and the very sad loss of life in Scotland and England. I
know only too well the devasting impacts that flooding can have on
individuals and communities. My thoughts and sympathies are with
all those affected, and in particular with the friends and families
of those who...Request free trial
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food
and Rural Affairs ()
Storm Babet has affected a number of communities across the UK,
with the worst impacts being seen in Scotland and the very sad
loss of life in Scotland and England. I know only too well the
devasting impacts that flooding can have on individuals and
communities. My thoughts and sympathies are with all those
affected, and in particular with the friends and families of
those who have tragically lost their lives in recent days. I
thank emergency responders, local authorities, volunteers and the
Environment Agency for their tireless efforts to help communities
across the country.
Storm Babet brought persistent and heavy rain to the north and
midlands of England overnight on Thursday 19 October, and through
Friday and Saturday. Met Office amber and yellow warnings for
rain and a yellow warning for wind were in place across large
parts of England. The range was so broad due to the storm being
easterly—atypical in the UK—and eastern and south-eastern facing
slopes took the brunt of the rainfall. This was further
complicated by a band of high pressure over Scandinavia, which
trapped rainfall over the north of England and Scotland.
As the Secretary of State set out in the House last week, an
emergency response centre was set up. In advance of the storm,
the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the
Cabinet Office convened the national flood response centre to
co-ordinate the response. Cross-Government meetings have taken
place daily since last Wednesday, and they will continue to do so
this week.
Meeting in advance of the storm enabled the Environment Agency
and local responders to increase the readiness of flood defences
and the clearing of potential blockages, such as sluice gates and
drains. Equipment was transferred from different parts of the
country to areas that had been forecast to be most badly
affected. Over the weekend, severe flood warnings were issued for
parts of the River Derwent in Derbyshire and the River Idle in
Nottinghamshire. The worst areas impacted by the storm were in
Suffolk, Derbyshire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and south
Yorkshire, where major incidents were declared.
Yesterday, I visited Bewdley on the River Severn, where I saw at
first hand how intense bursts of local rainfall had led to the
Severn’s tributaries putting more water into the main channel,
leading to an exceptional 1-metre rise in just two hours on
Friday. When the water receded a few hours later, the EA was able
to complete erecting the demountable barriers to ensure that
potentially floodable properties were not flooded at these
incredible peak levels. At its peak more than 300 flood warnings
were issued by the Environment Agency, and several severe flood
warnings. The Environment Agency flood line service experienced
its busiest day since 2015-16, with more than 1,800 calls.
As of this morning, we are aware of 1,258 properties that have
flooded. There was also wider disruption to road and rail
networks, as well as flooding on agricultural land that will have
impacted crops. The Environment Agency agreed to requests for
early abstraction for some farmers, so that they could take water
out of the system to store in their on-farm reservoirs. I add my
thanks to those farming communities, particularly in Suffolk, who
responded so quickly to the needs of their local communities.
On the impact in Scotland and Wales, the House will know that
this is a devolved matter. Although the storm has now passed,
over the course of the week, rainfall will continue to flow into
river networks, and the overall flood risk for England and Wales
is currently medium. Significant river flooding impacts remain
probable in parts of South Yorkshire, Derbyshire and
Nottinghamshire, and significant river flooding impacts are also
probable more widely. Further rainfall is expected later this
week but not on the same scale, and it is not expected to lead to
further significant flooding. Two major incidents remain in place
in South Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire, and both are moving from
response to recovery.
I take my role as the flooding Minister extremely seriously, and
I am aware of the devasting impact that flooding can have on
local communities. Local flood authorities will decide whether to
initiate section 19 inquiries. I know that will happen in
Horncastle and is being considered in other areas. The Secretary
of State visited sites in Nottinghamshire today. Before she left
she met the chief executive of the Environment Agency on
Saturday, and she met me again this morning. My teams and I have
been in constant communication throughout this event with the
Environment Agency and all concerned, and particularly with all
Members of Parliament from affected areas. Although unfortunately
some properties have been flooded, we estimate that approximately
42,000 homes in England have been protected that otherwise might
have been flooded during this incident. That includes towns such
as Matlock, where the recently completed flood defence—basically
a big wall—in the centre of the town on the River Derwent held up
well and protected the town. Its Member of Parliament, my hon.
Friend the Member for Derbyshire Dales (Miss Dines), got in touch
with me to share pictures to show how that defence was working,
and it had only just been completed.
The Environment Agency considers that its assets and response
have largely been effective. We should also consider more widely
those areas that have been protected due to flood defences that
have been installed within the last decade. We invested £2.6
billion in flood defences between 2015 and 2021, which has better
protected 314,000 homes all over England. We are currently
deploying more flood schemes between 2021 and 2027, with a record
£5.2 billion of investment. That includes both hard defences and
natural flood defences. It includes areas such as Hull, for
example, where a £42 million scheme was opened in 2022, which I
visited. It is in the constituency of the shadow Minister, the
hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle ().
However, we know of some areas where the assets were overwhelmed,
not having been designed for such rare, extreme levels of
rainfall. We will of course be reviewing our response once the
risk of flooding has passed. That will consider flood warning
triggers and local mobilisation of assets. We should bear in mind
that local resilience forums are the principal authorities for
deciding and co-ordinating responses, working off established
protocols and existing flood risk management plans.
Some of this flooding was due to surface water flooding, which is
the primary responsibility of local authorities. However, we work
with local authorities, and a third of our current funding is
linked to projects for tackling surface water flooding across the
country. The Government are also working to improve the local and
national response to flooding, including improving surface water
flood forecasting. We are investing £1 million in that, and
through an Environment Agency, Met Office, and Flood Forecasting
Centre project, we hope to come up with some valuable suggestions
and actions.
Finally, as local authorities move to the recovery phase, the
Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities is already
in contact with affected councils to assess impacts as these
communities look to recover.
5.09pm
(Kingston upon Hull West and
Hessle) (Lab)
I thank the Minister for advance sight of her statement. Our
hearts go out to all the family businesses and farmers affected
by this tragedy, but especially to those affected by the tragic
loss of life. I thank the emergency services and Environment
Agency workers for their tireless work around the clock to keep
people safe. More than 1,200 properties have been flooded, and
hundreds of people have been evacuated from their homes. Lives
have been lost.
Events such as Storm Babet are not unexpected, however. We know
that floods happen every winter. The Minister’s statement that
assets have not been designed “for such rare, extreme levels of
rainfall” shows complacency. We know that climate change is
bringing more frequent and more severe rainfall events and, as I
know from the terrible floods in 2007, where 16,000 properties
were flooded in Hull, flooding has a devastating impact on
people’s lives, with their belongings lost and businesses
destroyed. The country must be better prepared, and we need to
take our climate change goals seriously.
It is therefore incredibly worrying that the National
Infrastructure Commission stated last week that
“there is no measurable long term national target to reduce flood
risk…and the current target does not factor in risk increasing
due to climate change.”
To make matters worse, one in six homes in this country is at
risk of flooding—a number that is only set to rise. According to
the Environment Agency, more than half of local planning
authorities surveyed rarely or never inspected new developments
to check flood risk planning conditions had been carried out.
Research commissioned by insurers found that almost one third of
homes built in the five most flood-prone areas were approved
without a flood assessment.
The Government are asleep at the wheel. Why have they put homes
at risk of flooding by failing to ensure that local planning
authorities can carry out essential works? As I told the Minister
last Thursday, an estimated 190,000 homes across the country were
under threat from inadequately maintained flood defences in 2020.
Does the Minister know where these inadequately maintained flood
defences are? Did any of them fail over the weekend? Does she
have any plans to find out? Are any of the overwhelmed assets
that she mentioned these inadequately maintained flood assets?
The Government have failed to get a grip on the challenges facing
our country over flooding, but these risks, as I keep saying,
will only increase.
The independent review of flooding for London in 2021 noted that
the inability of organisations to share data and co-ordinate
emergency preparedness action had undermined the response to
flooding. I note that the Minister referred to the DEFRA and
Cabinet Office meetings two days before the floods were due, but
that is not nearly enough. It is time that we ended the Tory
practice of waiting for disaster to strike. While the Government
want to pass off responsibility to other agencies, a Labour
Government would establish a Cobra-style flood preparedness
taskforce to protect communities from the danger of flooding. We
will plan for the long term and co-ordinate central Government,
local authorities and emergency services to minimise the damage
of flooding every single winter—importantly, before the flooding
takes place. That would ensure that communities have the adequate
drainage systems and flood defences to protect themselves.
It is time to turn the page on the Tories’ sticking-plaster
politics and make the long-term decisions to protect communities
from the devastating impact of flooding. That is how we give
Britain its future back.
First, we are far from complacent; quite the reverse. The hon.
Member suggested that we need to be better prepared; that is what
our whole flood budget is geared up to doing. That is why we
doubled it to £5.2 billion. It was £2.6 billion, and it is now
£5.2 billion, with all the associated flooding schemes that that
is delivering—both hard infrastructure and a range of
nature-based solutions, which are a high proportion of many of
our schemes. I would have thought that she for one would have
recognised that, given the £42 million invested in Hull—her own
constituency. I visited the scheme in 2022—I invited her but do
not think that she came to the launch—and the people I met could
not have expressed more wholeheartedly what it had done for Hull
and how it had protected properties and businesses. It is now
attracting businesses to Hull that previously would not have come
as it was too risky for flooding. That is a prime demonstration
of what the Government are doing.
On asset maintenance, we continue to invest in all our flood and
coastal defence maintenance and have dedicated an extra £22
million to maintenance in the current review period of 2024-25.
Of course, checking assets and keeping them well maintained is a
critical part of the Environment Agency’s work. Virtually 94% of
major flood and coastal erosion risk management assets are in
their target condition. In addition, when the warnings began a
week ago, the Environment Agency and local authorities went out
to check assets, clear culverts and drains and do all the small
things that make such a big difference to whether there is or is
not flooding in our local areas.
On planning applications, the Environment Agency gives advice
when there is any suggestion of flood risk, and 96% of all
planning applications complied with Environment Agency advice on
flood risk. It is important that there are strong safeguards in
place where there is flood risk, and there are, but of course
planning departments have to decide whether to take note of the
Environment Agency’s advice. We are working hard with the
Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on this very
issue—I see the Under-Secretary of State for Levelling Up,
Housing and Communities, my hon. Friend the Member for Redcar
(), in his place alongside me—as
it is critical to protecting our island.
I would have thought the hon. Lady would have welcomed the
Cabinet Office meetings. We already have exactly what she is
asking for, as we do have a national flood response centre with
the Cabinet Office, the Department for Environment, Food and
Rural Affairs and various Government Departments engaging. That
was set up on Wednesday, and the Met Office information and the
warnings that had begun fed into its meetings—that is why
information was able to go out to people. If we can do more and
keep more people safe, we will always do that. That is why we
have taken note of the incidents. When it is safe to do so, we
will review particular things to see whether we can improve
people’s safety even more.
Sir (South Swindon) (Con)
I thank my hon. Friend for her statement. The wider consequences
of sudden torrential rainfall, which is happening much more
frequently, are being clearly seen in constituencies and
communities such as mine. I was dealing with the aftermath on
Friday.
There are two observations to draw. First, there is the need for
long-term planning with regard to providing more retention ponds
and understanding the flow of watercourses in local areas such as
mine. Secondly, short-term culvert clearing and drain clearing
operations clearly need to get better. Will she meet me to
discuss how we can better co-ordinate local authorities and the
Environment Agency, as well as the utility companies, which also
have a responsibility in this area?
I thank my right hon. and learned Friend for those astute
observations. He is right about the more frequent incidence. This
is linked to climate change—there is no doubt about that. We are
focusing exactly on the whole flow of water through our plan for
water, working at a catchment basis, which will be so important
in future. It is local authorities’ role to keep culverts clean
and all of that, so I will volunteer the Minister from DLUHC to
meet him to discuss that important issue.
(Aberdeen North) (SNP)
My thoughts and those of my colleagues are with all those who
have lost loved ones as a result of the storm. We are also
thinking about those who have lost pets or have been displaced
from their homes or businesses as a result of water or wind
damage during Storm Babet. I would like to thank the emergency
responders and all those working in public services—whether SSE,
the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, local councils or the
emergency services—who stepped up to protect and prevent risk to
people, and to protect homes and businesses wherever they could.
The River South Esk in Brechin reached 4.4 metres above normal
levels. The flood defences there were designed to cover 3.8
metres above normal levels, so they were overwhelmed by the
extreme weather.
The Scottish Government are committed to helping communities. Our
First Minister has been out in Brechin to
speak to those affected. The UK Government hold the purse
strings, and it would be much easier for us to provide the right
level of protection if they took financial action. When will the
UK Government begin unlocking the recovery and repair funding?
Will the Minister please commit to delivering the consequentials
of that funding to Scotland as a matter of urgency?
I fully support the hon. Lady’s thanks to all those emergency
services working in Scotland—interestingly, she named the
coastguard’s involvement in her area. To everyone involved, we
give our heartfelt thanks, and we give our sympathies to those
who experienced tragedies. As I pointed out, this area is
devolved, so I cannot comment on a lot of what she said. She
knows it is devolved, and I will leave it at that.
(Erewash) (Con)
I thank my hon. Friend the Minister for taking time on Saturday
to discuss the dire situation developing across Erewash. More
than 500 homes and many businesses have now been flooded,
including homes on Station Road and Station Street in Ilkeston,
Rutland Grove, Regent Street and Westminster Avenue in Sandiacre,
and the Nottingham Road area of Long Eaton. Many residents yet
again feel abandoned by the authorities, especially the
Environment Agency. Will my hon. Friend take action to ensure
that my constituents get the support they need, not only to deal
with the clean-up operation but to mitigate future flooding? With
more heavy rain forecast, what is she doing to ensure that
homeowners are informed of flood risk at the earliest opportunity
and not just by social media, which often excludes the older and
vulnerable populations across Erewash?
I thank my hon. Friend for all she did this weekend. She was
straight on the phone, rightly representing her constituents. I
believe that the waters are now receding in Erewash. I give my
sympathies to those who have been flooded. A lot of the flooding
is surface water flooding, so our new scheme to improve
forecasting of surface water flooding will be a real help to
constituencies such as hers. DLUHC Ministers are working on what
might be in place to help with the clear-up, and I will speak to
them later, as will our Department.
(Chesterfield) (Lab)
Flood Babet hit Chesterfield very hard on Friday, with the River
Rother and the River Hipper bursting their banks. Tragically,
83-year-old Maureen Gilbert of Tapton Terrace lost her life in
her own home. Her death has hit both her family and her
neighbours very hard. On behalf of the whole House, I send our
condolences to the family.
As many as 400 homes across Brampton, Birdholme, Riverside and
Tapton Terrace have been flooded, and countless businesses now
face a fight for their survival. It is particularly hard to bear
as the vast majority of those properties are the same ones that
flooded into 2007, despite the Government implementing schemes to
protect the River Rother. Why did residents on Tapton Terrace
receive the phone call from the early warning system after their
houses had been flooded? What assessment has the Minister made of
the success of the early warning system?
The financial cost facing flood victims and the council are huge.
Can the Minister explain when the Department for Levelling Up,
Housing and Communities will confirm that residents qualify for
financial support from the flood recovery framework, and that the
council will be covered for the huge additional cost via the
Bellwin scheme? How quickly will the Government be in a position
to announce that?
I reiterate our condolences to the family of Maureen. Nothing
could be more tragic, so huge sympathies go out to the family. I
was in touch with the hon. Gentleman over the weekend about the
situation in Tapton Terrace. I fed that straight into the
Environment Agency, which is working very closely with people up
there to fully review what happened. That will be part of the
review that we instigate. On the costs of clear-up, the Bellwin
scheme is triggered by DLUHC, the recovery Department. As I said,
we will be meeting to discuss whether that is appropriate, when
it would be appropriate and who might apply for it.
(Rother Valley)
(Con)
On Friday, Rother Valley was hit by flooding. Homes in Laughton
Common, Whiston, Brookhouse, Woodsetts and other places were
flooded, with more flooding in the areas of Kiveton, Todwick,
Treeton, Stone, Harthill and across the whole of Rother Valley.
What was clear when I met residents on Friday and Saturday was
the concern that a lack of drainage and culvert cleaning had
caused the flooding, as well as huge overdevelopment on the green
belt, especially in areas such as Whiston and Laughton Common.
What guidance can the Minister give to councils, such as
Rotherham Council, to dissuade them from building over green
spaces that are natural sinks for water, and to encourage them to
clean the culverts and drains more frequently, because it will
lead to more and more flooding if they do not?
Building and development has been considered, working with DLUHC,
in our holistic plan for water. It is why we so urgently need
sustainable urban drainage, for example, in our new developments
and to get that switched on. It is being reviewed and hopefully
that will start to happen, because it will make such a difference
in trapping and capturing water, as do schemes such as grey water
harvesting, semi-permeable driveways and so on. I urge planning
departments to consider them, because they will make such a
difference in areas such as my hon. Friend’s.
(Selby and Ainsty) (Lab)
Flooding devastates communities across Selby and Ainsty.
Residents are caused enormous anxiety and panic when events like
Storm Babet occur. Will the Minister outline what steps she is
taking to work with the Environment Agency regionally in
Yorkshire to ensure that towns like Tadcaster are safe from
flooding in future?
I can give the hon. Gentleman an absolute assurance that we are
working very closely with the regional Environment Agencies. In
fact, they come to the fore in incidents like this and we are in
constant communication with them. They feed into plans for flood
management and water resources. It should be a cohesive
programme, working together. That is also why, as I mentioned
earlier, working in catchments is so important.
(Bolsover) (Con)
I was grateful to the Environment Agency for a call earlier
updating me on the situation in Derbyshire, which has been
particularly badly affected by the flooding. We remain nervous
about the impact of potential rainfall this evening, but
generally we are moving to the recovery phase. I place on record
my thanks to all the communities and authorities who have been so
brilliant this weekend. However, there is obviously a great
concern around the funding as we move into the recovery phase. We
need to make sure that Derbyshire County Council, unlike in 2019,
is given the proper funding it needs to get things back to
normal. When the Minister meets DLUHC later, will she make sure
that she emphasises the need for the funding to be put in place
quickly?
I hear what my hon. Friend says. That is why we will be working
closely with DLUHC on what is possible to help local authorities
with the clear-up. Derbyshire has been really badly hit, but it
has also had £74 million of flood defence schemes, better
protecting 3,900 properties. A great many properties were
protected that might otherwise have been flooded. We also have to
bear that in mind.
(Orkney and Shetland)
(LD)
The Minister may not be aware of this, but the BBC website has
confirmed in the last hour that there are now three confirmed
deaths in Scotland as a consequence of Storm Babet. Each one is a
tragedy, and I am sure that we all send sympathies and
condolences to them and their families. The loss of life could
have been so much worse, but for the willingness of others to put
themselves in harm’s way. In Shetland, the Lerwick lifeboat was
at sea for 18 hours in atrocious conditions to save the lives of
those on the Danish trawler Westbank, and the coastguard
helicopter airlifted 45 workers from the Stena Spey, an offshore
drilling rig. Does the Minister agree that they deserve our
gratitude and commendation, and will she have a word with her
colleagues in the Department for Transport, who are currently
proposing that the response time for the Shetland coastguard
helicopter be increased from 15 minutes to 60?
Of course I send condolences for all three of those deaths—any
death is absolutely tragic—and I commend the lifeboat team who
did such spectacular work in rescuing the trawler and those who
rescued the people on the oil rig. This is a tremendous story and
accolade for them. I am not sure that I am the one who can
trigger the commendation, but I am sure that the right hon.
Gentleman’s suggestion will be fed in, and I will certainly pass
his other comments to the Department for Transport.
Sir (North Herefordshire) (Con)
One of the victims was apparently from Far Forest, which used to
be in my constituency, and obviously our thoughts and prayers are
with the family at this moment. This is going to happen again. On
the ground, the Environment Agency workers do a great job. Is it
not time to merge the agency with Natural England, so that there
are fewer managers and more people to protect us?
Again, I send my condolences following that very sad case in Far
Forest. I was in the area on Sunday, so I heard a great deal
about it from the local people.
My hon. Friend has made an interesting proposal. I think we
should deal with the immediate issues first, but on the ground
those in the Environment Agency have done a tremendous job in
almost every case, particularly those whom I met in Bewdley. I
must also give some praise to the community officers who meet so
many worried and upset people on the streets, and also meet with
some aggression. They have done a tremendous job in all the parts
of the country where they were sent out.
(Weaver Vale) (Lab)
Over the last six years, Northwich, in my constituency, has been
flooded twice. This time round, having learned from the section
19 report, the Environment Agency, Cheshire West and Chester
Council, the Canal & River Trust, the emergency services and
other local councils did a sterling job to prevent it from
happening again. My concern for the future, however, relates to
the huge cuts in the trust, amounting to £300 million. I issue
this plea to the Minister: will she look at that and think
again?
I am pleased to hear that all those organisations did such a
grand job locally. We understand the huge benefit brought by the
Canal & River Trust and the great work that it does, but that
£300 million figure is something of a bone of contention. The
trust has adjusted the figure for inflation, and the Government
do not normally do that with their funds.
(Bassetlaw) (Con)
I thank the Secretary of State for her visit to Retford and
Ordsall today to meet some of the hundreds of people who were
evacuated, such as those in Darrel Road, and to see the
devastation at first hand. For many of those residents, it is not
the first time that this has happened. I also thank the Minister
for her reassurance that we will provide as much support as
possible, and will invest in the appropriate flood defences to
make sure that we can mitigate the impact. Does she agree,
however, that we need to remind councils of their
responsibilities to communicate information effectively to our
constituents? In my case, one of the emergency respite centres
was closed with only 20 minutes’ notice, and one of the emergency
phone lines was down for nearly two days. Can we also please ask
councils to stop building on floodplains?
I know that the Secretary of State visited my hon. Friend’s
constituency today and will have seen for herself exactly what
local people are facing. I know that my hon. Friend has rightly
been a great champion for them, and he makes a good point about
the role of local authorities in the local flood forums. It is
important that everybody plays their part in this, not just the
emergency services who come in if there is a problem. It is about
the messaging early on, and that is why the Environment Agency
has a comprehensive system of warnings that people can sign up
to. Some 1.6 million people are signed up to its flood warning
scheme and I would urge people to ensure that they know how to
join it. I also urge local authorities to play the role that they
really should be playing, and I will be talking to the Department
for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to stress that
further.
(City of Chester) (Lab)
Following the storm at the weekend, several areas in my
constituency were affected. There are still active flood alerts
across Cheshire, so many areas are not out of the woods yet. On
Saturday morning, I visited a number of my constituents living in
close proximity to Finchett’s Gutter who expressed serious
concern over the timings of the flood alerts received over the
weekend. Some of them were already standing knee-deep in water by
the time the alerts came through. I join Members across the House
in asking the Minister again what discussions have been had to
ensure that as the rainfall continues, alerts are sent out in a
timely fashion to give residents plenty of warning.
Of course it is critical that warnings go out appropriately at
the right time, and that was why this incident started to be
flagged the previous weekend and why the national flood response
centre was set up. There is a comprehensive Environment Agency
flood warning service and I advise people to sign up to it, as
well as checking whether they are in an area that might be at
risk of flooding. One of the issues is awareness. The EA runs a
lot of comms programmes on this, but if there is more that should
be done, I will look at that in the review.
(Westmorland and Lonsdale) (LD)
When Storm Arwen hit Cumbria two years ago, many of our villages
and other communities lost electrical power for several days due
to damaged power cables. I know that that has happened to many
communities over the last few days. What progress have the
Government made since 2021 to make Britain’s power infrastructure
more resilient—for example, by creating a national bank of mobile
generators to ensure that communities are not left cold, dark and
vulnerable for days on end? Have the people hit by Storm Babet
benefited from lessons learned from Storm Arwen, or are we no
further forward?
I would like to assure the hon. Gentleman that DEFRA has been
working closely with the Department for Energy Security and Net
Zero, which has a strategy for exactly this issue, because it is
critical that power outages are considered when emergencies such
as this take place. Effective action was taken over
the Rolls-Royce plants in
the Derbyshire area; that was a very effective alignment with the
Energy Department. Just as an aside, we work closely with the
water industry on preparedness, should there be electricity
outages, some of which might be linked to flooding. In fact,
there was another incident near Derby and it had a clear
management plan.
(Bolton South East)
(Lab)
My heart goes out to all the communities affected, and
particularly to those who lost their lives. The images on the
news of the devastation of the floods will also have an impact on
communities who have been flooded previously and have escaped.
Many people in Prestolee on the River Irwell in my constituency
will be among those watching with great anxiety. I have raised
this issue several times in the Chamber and with the Minister.
Can she assure me that every house in every community that has
faced repeated flooding this week and in previous years,
including Prestolee, will get the funding they need to be able to
protect their lives, livelihoods and property?
The hon. Lady and I have met and discussed her issues a number of
times. I will just flag that we launched the frequently flooded
fund of £100 million, which allocated funds to 53 projects. The
areas that put forward viable projects for the funding are
finding it very effective, and another round will open
shortly.
Insurance is also really important for houses where there is a
possibility of flooding, and Flood Re works intensively on that.
The process has been tweaked to ensure that as many houses as
possible can get into it and a huge number of properties have
been helped. Those that have difficulties can go to the inventory
that has just been set up, and 13,000 people who had slightly
more difficult cases have been helped through that. The
Association of British Insurers has worked closely to ensure that
all people are being catered for. There is also an extra “build
back better” £10,000 to build one’s property back better.
(Dundee East) (SNP)
Many of my constituents in Dundee and Angus were hit very hard by
the storm, and I wish to add my thanks to all the emergency
services and others, particularly at Dundee City Council and
Angus Council, who did so much to help. It is absolutely tragic
to see cars submerged, homes flooded, businesses closed, bridges
washed away and, of course, lives lost.
Given that we are seeing more, and more frequent, extreme weather
events, and given that the Minister recognised climate change in
her statement, does she not now regret the Prime Minister’s
recent statement rolling back many of the measures necessary to
tackle climate change quickly?
Contrary to what the right hon. Gentleman proposes, we take this
matter extremely seriously. That is why we have doubled the
flooding budget to £5.2 billion, as we are aware of these extreme
weather incidents. It is also why we have opened a range of other
funds, such as the £200 million flood and coastal resilience
innovation programme, to look at how we can accelerate flood
protection in areas where it will be trickier as sea levels rise,
and so on. Another £8 million project in the Thames estuary, the
Humber estuary, the Severn estuary and Yorkshire is looking at
pathways to deal with exactly these things.
(Barnsley East) (Lab)
My heart goes out to everyone affected by flooding, particularly
in Barnsley, Darfield, Wombwell, Worsbrough, Lundwood and Darton.
The response to flooding is obviously fragmented by its nature
because there are so many agencies involved, from the emergency
services to the local authority, the Environment Agency, the
water companies and national Government.
I mention in particular Worsbrough Bridge Athletic football club,
which has suffered flooding five years in a row. Because it is
not a home or a business, it often struggles to get support. What
advice and, more importantly, action can the Government give to
community groups such as Worsbrough Bridge Athletic football club
that are affected by persistent flooding?
Individual businesses can seek insurance. There is insurance out
there, which I urge Worsbrough Bridge Athletic football club to
seek. There are many other measures, including our natural flood
management schemes, which are looking at much wider ways of
encouraging flood protection. We have just launched a new £25
million fund on that, and there is also our frequently flooded
allowance. There are funds out there, but the hon. Lady’s local
authority could also do a lot to come up with the correct plans
for its area.
(Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath)
(Alba)
I thank the Minister for her statement, but she made a
significant omission in relation to the impact on the railway
network, which has implications for funding and the response in
Scotland, because the network is not devolved.
Following August 2020’s fatal derailment at Carmont, near
Stonehaven, in which three people lost their lives, Network Rail
gave a commitment to the National Union of Rail, Maritime and
Transport Workers that it would put in place additional resources
to address the drainage maintenance failures that were
responsible, but the RMT’s Gordon Martin has claimed that Network
Rail’s modernising maintenance project has less to do with
improvement and everything to do with cuts. As the Minister is
responsible for flooding and its impact, will she raise this with
her counterpart in the Department for Transport to ensure that
Network Rail’s failings do not again lead to death and injury, as
they did in August 2020?
I will certainly pass on those comments to the Department for
Transport.
(Strangford) (DUP)
I thank the Minister very much for her statement and for her
enthusiasm when it comes to improving and doing better, which I
think we all welcome. Does she accept that this storm and others
like it have adversely affected coastal erosion around the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, especially in
areas such as the Ards peninsula in my Strangford constituency?
Has she had any discussions with the Cabinet about creating a
dedicated fund to build up defences in coastal communities
against the battering winds and waves that are literally beating
away our coastlines and impairing road and rail safety?
The hon. Gentleman mentions the particular challenges that
coastal areas face. We have launched a £200 million flood and
coastal innovation programme to look at those issues in
particular. I urge him to suggest that his own Cabinet looks at
some similar projects. We are happy to share the detail.
(Reading East) (Lab)
My sympathies are with all those affected by these terrible
floods. Thousands of residents of Reading, Caversham and Woodley
in my constituency live in areas that could be affected by
catastrophic flooding, yet plans to build flood defences next to
the River Thames in Reading have been delayed. Will the Minister
write to me urgently with an update on this important issue, to
reassure local residents and businesses?
As the hon. Gentleman will know, the water resources management
plans are under discussion right now. Protections, reservoirs and
water supplies will all be discussed within those plans. I cannot
comment on what will be in the plans yet, but I am sure that he
has fed into them. I urge him to continue to do so, because
keeping people safe along this great river is of the utmost
importance.
(North Shropshire) (LD)
Vast areas of my constituency are once again under water, despite
Storm Babet not being the most serious that we have experienced
in recent times. Although my residents are largely dry this time
around, they are often cut off for weeks when floodwaters rise,
and many of them are old and vulnerable. What conversations has
the Minister had with her colleagues in DLUHC about protecting
people who are cut off from basic services for such long periods
when floodwaters rise?
I have had a great many discussions with DLUHC about these
issues; we also work closely with the Environment Agency, as the
hon. Lady will know. The local resilience forums will be
factoring in areas at potential risk of being cut off, so that
they have emergency systems in place.
I have been right up the river into the hon. Lady’s constituency
to look at these issues. I know how closely the Environment
Agency is working on those plans, and how mindful it is of
getting the right warning systems in place for any such areas.
That is why our nature-based solutions funding, our frequently
flooded allowance and our £5.2 billion fund is so important.
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