| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
11.44 am
Mr. Tom King (Bridgwater): The hon. Member for Sittingbourne and Sheppey (Mr. Wyatt)--who has knowledge of information technology and new technology--ended on a most interesting note. I share his concern at a matter of growing importance to which the House will return, and to which the Select Committee has helpfully drawn attention. I have heard three members of the Select Committee congratulate themselves on their report and--as an independent, non-partial Member of Parliament--I congratulate them as well.
Members of the Select Committee will not be surprised by my interest, because they received evidence from Somerset county council, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and Mrs. Katherine Bryan, the head of the south-west Environment Agency. In the appendices, submissions from Mr. Campbell Voullaire and Mr. Mark Blathwayt were published in connection with the Porlock shingle ridge, which is a retreat if ever you saw one--a managed retreat, in which 140 acres of prime farmland is turned into a salt marsh--that has caused great concern in that part of my constituency.
Somerset county council was right to give evidence--one fifth of Somerset is below sea level. We have talked of Hereward the Wake, and I would advance the cause of Alfred, who would not have been half so great had he not been able to hide behind the salt marshes--which are now the Somerset levels--where the pursuing Danes were unable to catch up with him because the tide came across 150,000 acres faster than a horse could gallop. He was able to burn his cakes in reasonable security. That is now important agricultural land, and its drainage and protection are matters of concern.
The hon. Member for Braintree (Mr. Hurst) referred to the evidence from the RSPB, which looked at areas that should not be drained and on which important wetlands exist--some in my constituency. I am familiar with the complexity of the issues, and I am concerned about them. I recognise that they are getting no easier. I have noticed that "retreat" is now called "realignment," which I see as meaning gain, as well as loss. In Somerset, we are in retreat--my constituency is shrinking--and there is no sign of any gain on any part of the Somerset coastline, which is under threat. I understand that Professor Pethick--who was an adviser to the Select Committee--is familiar with the coastline.
There has been an imperceptible change of belief, rather than a particular moment when the existence of climate change was publicly accepted. I have believed it, on a hunch, for a long time, in the face of the public dismissal by many authorities, who talked of the failure to understand the cyclical nature of climate, the history of the ice ages and the various patterns of climate and weather over the centuries. Now, there is a general recognition of it.
I do not know when the Environment Agency changed its policy, but it is now accepted that there is climate change, and that we must deal with the risk of more serious events happening more frequently. We have read this morning of the horrors of the avalanches in Austria, and two avalanches came down yesterday on a village that had never had one before and was regarded as completely safe. That is a further illustration of the changes to, and the severity of, the weather.
As well as global warming and rising sea levels, there is the increasing severity, and frequency of violent events. There are also man-made contributions to that frequency and severity. This hit me most forcibly when I was the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and Strabane was badly flooded. I was there 24 hours later, and it was impossible to understand why it had been flooded. Half the town had been flooded severely, and a lot of damage was done. By the time that I got there, the river level was right down. The water, which had been brimming to the top of an extremely high bridge, was looking harmless and low.
An old gentleman standing nearby, whom my officials tried to keep away from me because they thought that he was a bit of an old crank, made the pretty obvious point that such things did not happen in the old days, before all the drainage work on the farms, when the river took a long time to come up, stayed up for a long time and took some time to go down. I live in an old mill and have been flooded. I have seen the effects of adjacent motorways and new developments. When there is significant rainfall, it runs off faster and arrives quicker and in greater volume. The water stays for less time, but it does greater damage.
Curry moor in my constituency is the flood plain into which the River Parrett and the River Tone discharge themselves. The situation for the villagers of East Lyng, which is on the border with the constituency of the hon. Member for Taunton (Jackie Ballard), is more dangerous now. They say that the speed with which the floods arrive contributes to the danger.
I should like to contribute some brief messages of support for the Select Committee report. My only disagreement is on the odd recommendation that
There is a clear need for greater resources. I recognise that the Government have increased the resources available under the three-year comprehensive spending
review. Somerset has £500 million of assets for flood defence and coastal protection. Expenditure on those assets this year will be £8 million. Those assets could not be maintained with those resources if the situation were static or even if the threat were declining. In fact, the threat is increasing. We are faced with the appalling prospect of having to try to build another 50,000 houses in Somerset, with one fifth of our county below sea level. As the hon. Member for Sittingbourne and Sheppey pointed out, we shall end up with housing in unsuitable places, which will increase the problems and the demand for help.
My hon. Friend the Member for Mid-Worcestershire (Mr. Luff) has already referred to the problem at Minehead. Minehead has a desirable sandy beach, which is rapidly disappearing because we are two thirds of the way through an important coastal protection scheme. After the serious damage done to the sea defences in Minehead, important work has been carried out to put the main defences in place. The last element is a surcharge of sand across the beach. Unfortunately, there is a shortage of money, or the programme has run ahead of itself. I understand that the Environment Agency recognises that, unless something is done now, there is a serious risk that the work that has already been carried out will be damaged and further costs will be incurred. I believe that the Environment Agency is likely to approach the Minister for authority for certain facilities to enable the work to go ahead. I hope that he will be able to respond sympathetically.
Almost every Select Committee report recommends a reorganisation and finds reasons why something should be changed. I have lived through the same building bearing the successive nameplates of the Somerset River Authority, the Wessex Water Authority, the Wessex division of the National Rivers Authority and now the North Wessex Environment Agency. Change usually leads to problems of hiatus, delay and people not taking decisions because they are wondering what job they will have in the new organisation. Select Committees should proceed with great care when proposing further reorganisations. That is why I have some suspicion about the proposal for regional flood defence committees. A bit of evolutionary change would be better than wholesale reorganisation in this case. The Select Committee warned that such a change would require primary legislation. The chances of securing time for that in the short term are pretty slim, so why not accept that the best is the enemy of the good and go for evolutionary change that would secure rationalisation of the present confusing structure without the wholesale upheaval that regional flood defence committees would entail?
Mr. Luff:
My right hon. Friend is probably right in the case of his area, but we saw the problems on the east coast of England, where one set of authorities is taking decisions that impact on another set of authorities with different responsibilities. One group deals with coastal erosion and another with coastal flooding. They work against each other rather than together. The evolutionary approach will not work in that case. Radical change is essential for coastal issues.
Mr. King:
I have great respect for my hon. Friend's point. I have found the structure confusing and get muddled about who is dealing with what. There is some
I have always found internal drainage boards, of which there are several in my constituency, rather curious. There is every argument for changing them or getting rid of them, but they deal with minor problems at a local level that the Environment Agency should not be bogged down with. There are arguments on the Somerset levels about keeping levels to within 6 in, 3 in or even 1 in, so that the water is held up to a certain level in some areas that the RSPB is interested in, and lower in other areas where the farmers can harvest their crops. Those details are much better worked out locally. The Environment Agency's recommendation for a rationalisation of IDBs is better than a wholesale dismissal.
"Insurance companies should be obliged to provide advice to individuals in flood risk areas as to how to mitigate the effects of flooding".
I agree that they should be encouraged
"to address property and asset claims afterwards to ensure their rapid settlement."
I do not know what feedback insurance companies have given, but the recommendation suggests that they should take responsibility for giving adequate advice about flooding. I do not instinctively think that that is the job of insurance companies, but others may like to discuss that.
| Next Section
| Index | Home Page |