This week, MPs from two Select Committees, the Environmental Audit Committee and the Environment Food and Rural Affairs Committee, came together for a joint debate in the House of Commons to hold the Government to account on its management of flood risk.

A series of parliamentary inquiries have called for strengthened policies to protect UK communities from increasing flood risk.

Last June, the Environmental Audit Committee’s ‘Flooding: Cooperation across Government’ report called for a cross-departmental, long-term, strategic approach to flood prevention and funding. It raised particular concerns around the maintenance of critical flood defences and the preparedness of infrastructure companies to deal with flood events. The Committee has continued to put pressure on the Government’s approach on funding, Flood Envoys and its National Flood Resilience Review.

Government’s “fragmented, inefficient and ineffective approaches” to flood risk management

Last November, the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee’s Future flood prevention report criticised the Government’s “fragmented, inefficient and ineffective approaches” to flood risk management.

In January, the Committee expressed its disappointment that the Government’s response to that report missed the opportunity to act on a wide range of recommendations. It called on the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to provide greater safeguards and assurance to local communities through stronger planning rules and improvements to flood insurance coverage.

MPs also condemned what is described as “Defra’s cursory response” to recommendations on improving governance by appointing a new National Flood Commissioner and reforming local partnerships. Members called for more action to slow the flow of water across catchments, including through leaky dams and storing water on farmland.

“Government action continues to fall far short of our recommendations”

Chair of Environment Food and Rural Affairs Committee, Neil Parish said:

“People living in areas of flood risk fear they are only a downpour away from disaster. They need answers from the Government not complacency: our debate will demand from Ministers a commitment to stronger, more urgent measures to tackle flood risk to communities across England.”

“The Government needs to explain to MPs why it has missed valuable opportunities to act in response to a series of major flood reports. Action continues to fall far short of our recommendations”.

“Stop-start approach to flood defence spending has contributed to decline of critical flood defences”

Chair of Environmental Audit Committee, Mary Creagh said:

“Flooding is the greatest risk the country faces from climate change. It is vital to take a long-term, strategic approach to flood risk management. But the government is failing taxpayers with its stop-start approach to flood defence spending which has contributed to the decline of critical flood defences.”

“Any decline in the condition of critical flood defences represents an unacceptable risk to local communities in flood prone areas. A patch and mend flood management system when flooding events occurs is simply is not good enough. Communities at risk of flooding need certainty from government that their flood defences are adequate, well maintained, and that families, homes and businesses will not be put at risk.”

Meanwhile, The Guardian reports that floods and erosion caused by climate change are ruining Britain’s most significant sites. Wordsworth’s gardens in Cumbria and England’s white cliffs are amongst the heritage sites wrecked by extreme weather, events that researchers have attributed to changes in the UK climate. While floods and coastal erosion have dramatic and obvious impacts, rising temperatures are slowly changing the migration and spawning patterns of numerous wildlife species. The article is based on research undertaken by the University of Leeds.

The CCC (Committee on Climate Change) Chief executive, Matthew Bell, recently highlighted the urgent need to tackle climate change and the benefits of both adaptation and mitigation for the economy.

He argues that the economic and wider benefits that come from tackling climate change, alongside the avoidance of future damage include new jobs and better health.

He explained why investing in climate action today – both in terms of mitigation and adaptation – provides an essential form of insurance for the future. “We have to bear some of these costs if we are to properly protect ourselves from the dangers of climate change impacts. We already know that the risk of significant future damage (to health, to the economy, to our natural environment, to our food supply) as a result of rising average global temperatures is high. If we do not insure ourselves by taking action now, it will be far more expensive to deal with the consequences as they unfold.

Alongside the security of having a climate change ‘insurance policy’, there are emerging personal, financial and economic benefits of action to tackle climate change. Entirely new industries – and extensions of current industries – are already developing, bringing jobs, income and opportunities for people right across the UK. This includes both the manufacturing and service sectors. The size of these opportunities, and the speed with which they are emerging, are still uncertain. The CCC has commissioned new research to better understand the extent of these new opportunities.”