Government flooding defence criticised

Over the weekend, rainfall hit parts of Cumbria, Lancashire and Northumbria , causing flooding and devastation to communities.

Storm Desmond has caused disruption to communities and homes across the north west, as rivers reached new record levels. More than 42,000 homes were left without power in Lancaster,Carnforth and Morecambe after Lancaster’s main substation was flooded on Saturday.

Police have estimated that as many as 6,425 homes were flooded, with Kendal being one of the worst places affected, leaving 1,400 people temporarily homeless.

Labour criticised the number of major flood defence schemes listed in the government’s infrastructure pipeline that had not been constructed, and had remained without progress in the past year.

A £4.4M project to protect 440 properties from flooding from the river Kent, had reportedly been in line for funding since 2011.

Tim Farron, the Liberal Democrat leader, whose constituency covers Kendal said: “I believe the money you save and the misery you prevent is infinitely greater than the outlay on those schemes.

“I am contacting the prime minister to urge him to meet with me and council officials to agree this project [the postponed Kendal flood scheme] ASAP.”

The government will be investing £2.3Bn in flood defences, an increase on £1.7Bn invested in the last Parliament. There is a commitment to build 1,400 more flood defences and protect 300,000 more homes from flooding across the country.

For councils affected by the floods, the government will be opening the Bellwin scheme, with the promise that 100% of eligible costs will be met by the government. The scheme will enable councils to get financial assistance in the case of exceptional events such as flooding. Authorities such as councils, police, fire and rescue and National Park authorities are eligible for costs when they have spent 0.2% of their calculated annual revenue budgets on works.

There has also been support from the Association of British Insurers, who have published a film on how to protect your home if you are in a flood prone area, or if you have already been affected by the floods.

The military, emergency services and Environment Agency staff have been responding to the floods with recovery work.

Environment Secretary Elizabeth Truss said: “Many services have been restored but large numbers of people are still out of their homes and there remains a lot of work to do. As the flood waters begin to recede, our priority is shifting from rescue to recovery and getting those families affected by this week’s devastating floods back into their homes, and businesses back on their feet. Later today I will chair a further COBR meeting to assess where, and how, we can most effectively deploy further resources from across government to support affected communities.”

The costs of the storm are estimated to be between £400m and £500m. There are a total of 16 severe flood warnings still in place for the north-west England.

 

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