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Mr. Loughton: Will the hon. Gentleman elaborate on which of the Environment Agency's activities were to be privatised and on what effects that would have had?
Mr. O'Brien: Sadly, the right hon. Member for Suffolk, Coastal did not tell us which functions he was going to privatise. Today, however, as Hansard will show, he said that it was planned to give some of the functions to other operators. However, he did not say which responsibilities would be affected.
The possibility of privatising some of the functions was mentioned even in Standing Committee. Fortunately, however, in 1997, we had a change of Government, enabling the agency to develop and continue the work that it was established to do. However, although much has been done, there is still a great deal left to do.
The right hon. Member for Suffolk, Coastal mentioned the anomalies that have been revealed with introduction of the packaging waste regulations. I believe that he got the percentages wrong in the initial regulations. Now, as an adviser to Valpac, he is saying that the regulations should be changed. However, in 1996, when he made the decision on the regulations, he said that they would not be reviewed for five years. That caused turmoil and suffering in the packaging waste industry. Fortunately, although discussions and consultations are continuing, the regulations were revised within 12 months of the election of the current Government, so as to re-balance responsibilities and percentages within the packaging waste industry.
Nevertheless, we are three years behind Europe in addressing the packaging waste issue, because the right hon. Member for Suffolk, Coastal, as the Secretary of State for the Environment, and the then Government were not pressing to introduce packaging waste regulations.
I agree with my hon. Friend the Member for Denton and Reddish that the United Kingdom should be a leader on the waste control issue, and I think that we could be if we had co-ordination between local authorities, the Environment Agency and the Government, so that they all worked as they should. However, I also feel sure that the work that is being done will be built upon, and that our report's recommendations--most of which have been accepted by the agency--will enable some progress.
I should like to deal with a matter that has already been mentioned briefly today--responsibility for inland waterways. Two agencies--British Waterways and the Environment Agency--have responsibility for the inland waterways, and each has a department to discharge that responsibility. I think that the time has come to consider establishing one agency to manage the waterways. I believe that, as British Waterways has the singular responsibility for caring for our canals, rivers and coastal areas, it should have responsibility for our inland waterways.
The Transport Sub-Committee is conducting an inquiry and taking evidence from many people on how to manage the inland waterways.
As we are considering the responsibilities of the Environment Agency and the way in which it is managed, I consider that I would be failing in my duty if I did not draw attention to the duplication of services. Perhaps we will look into that in future.
Let me place on record my appreciation of the people who have helped the Committee draw up the report, to the Clerk and the Officers serving the Select Committee, to those who drafted and presented the evidence, to the members of the Committee and to the Chairman who worked very hard to make sure that the Committee received all the relevant information, worked in accordance with the rules set down by Parliament and presented reports such as the one we are considering this morning.
I should also emphasise the need for clearer demarcation between the environmental responsibilities of the Environment Agency and those of local authorities. I feel that I am witness to a great divide that it not to the benefit of my constituents, the agency or local authorities. I leave that point with my hon. Friend the Minister. My case rests on the evidence that I have put forward and I ask him to look into the matter. I have no hesitation in commending the report to the House.
12.16 pm
Mr. Roger Casale (Wimbledon): I start by congratulating you, Madam Deputy Speaker, and wishing you all the very best for what I know will be a long and distinguished career in the Chair.
I should like to make a few comments about the part of the Select Committee report that refers to the powers that the Environment Agency has and those that it should have in relation to flood plain development.
I raise the matter not just because of the recent bad weather and the spate of severe flooding in many parts of the country, although that has brought the issue of flood plain development into much sharper focus. Nor do I do so because today is the last day of the climate change conference in The Hague, although recently we heard from my right hon. Friend the Minister for the Environment that flooding and bad weather were in part due to climate change and that we should be prepared for more of the same unless climate change can be slowed down or reversed.
The reason for my contribution is that ever since I was elected to Parliament in 1997, I have received constant representations from my constituents and organisations in my constituency, drawing my attention to the problems referred to in the Select Committee report and to the shortcomings of the present system of regulation with regard to flood plain development.
The matter has been brought to my attention on a number of occasions, at my constituency surgery, during visits around my constituency and in letters. Only recently, Mrs. Margaret Pye of the West Barnes ward has been in correspondence with me in regard to two specific applications that seem to be about to get the go-ahead from Merton council in areas of my constituency that are liable to flooding. Mrs. Jill Truman of the West Barnes and Raynes Park residents association and the many hundreds of households that her organisation represents have been in correspondence with me for a long time about those issues. I have also heard from the planning committee of the Wimbledon Society and its secretary,
Mrs. Pat Keith, and Leonard Mostyn, the chairman of the Wimbledon Union of Residents Associations that brings together about 30 residents associations in my constituency.My constituents and their organisations are worried about the fact that the Environment Agency apparently has inadequate powers in relation to planning applications. My constituents see the Environment Agency as a body that will take proper account of the relevant environmental issues in relation to planning, but they want to know that its view and any assessment that it makes, which they believe has a great deal of credibility, should have more effect and not just be overridden or ignored by the planning authorities. Perhaps my constituents and their organisations in Wimbledon will take heart from the results of the Select Committee inquiry into the work of the Environment Agency. They will see from the conclusions of the report, which reflected those of a similar report by the Select Committee on Agriculture on the work of the agency, that there is a need for local planning authorities to take much fuller account of the agency's advice in respect of flood plain developments.
My constituents will also ask, as do the reports, for much greater weight to be given to the Environment Agency's assessments by the planning inspectorate and the Secretary of State when planning applications are called in for appeal. If the Environment Agency's warnings that flood plain developments should not go ahead because of the flood risk are ignored or overridden at the initial planning stage, it should be possible for the planning inspectorate and the Secretary of State to take much fuller account of those representations at the appeal stage.
In both these respects, my constituents will share the Environment Agency's concerns about the recent actions of my local council of Merton. It continues to permit flood plain developments even on sites in which the council has an interest and could itself decide that it will not develop there rather than just resisting the attempts by private developers to develop the site. The agency advises against such developments, not only because of a risk of flooding on those developments but because, if allowed to go ahead, they will often pose a risk of flooding elsewhere.
We know from recent events just how much disruption and misery flooding can cause families, businesses and communities right across the country. Many of the losses caused by flooding are irreplaceable; much of the damage and trauma is irreparable. Perhaps that is why one of the Select Committee witnesses said that such flood plain developments were often nothing short of a disaster waiting to happen.
Planning authorities must take a number of factors into account when assessing individual applications. I am not arguing that they should take into account only environmental considerations and the risk of flooding--clearly, they must take a wider view. In coming to a decision, however, they should be made to take much greater account of the Environment Agency's view. It is not simply that the risk of flooding and the damage it causes is so serious--it is clear from the report that the Environment Agency does very valuable work in itself, as those of us who have come into contact with it know.
Its assessments are not scaremongering but have a sound scientific and factual foundation and are often proved to be right.I would not go so far as to argue that the Environment Agency should have an effective veto on all developments, but its role, its voice and its reports need to be taken more into account. The role of the Environment Agency in considering local planning applications needs beefing up. The agency needs to be given greater powers--it needs more teeth. Let me give some practical examples of what I mean by that.
Where developments are permitted against the advice of the agency, I believe that there should be a duty on the developer to put proper flood protection measures in place. Even if the development is to go ahead and the advice of the agency not to allow it is not followed, at least the risk of flooding that the agency has drawn attention to should be taken into account by the planning authorities. The Environment Agency should be given powers to impose a duty on developers to put measures in place to reduce that risk. That would be an example of a practical power that could be given to the Environment Agency so that some of its work would be reflected in the final outcome. If a development were allowed to go ahead despite the risk, at least that risk could be mitigated to some extent. The cost of putting in place proper measures on flood protection should be borne by the developer.
Similarly, there should be provision for an urban drainage system, and perhaps some drainage measures will need to be strengthened if particular developments are allowed to go ahead. Again, the cost of that should be borne by the developer, and the Environment Agency should have power to recommend that extra measures are taken. Planning authorities should be able to make acceptance of planning applications conditional on such provision being made.
A full technical investigation of the extent of the flood risk, to which the Environment Agency will have drawn attention, should be carried out in the area where the development is taking place, as well as further afield where flood risk may increase as a result of the development. Those who seek to build on flood plains and those who permit such developments should recognise that they do so at risk not only to themselves but to those in other areas who may be put at increased risk of flooding. Risks to others should be properly assessed, and the cost of measures to mitigate those risks should be borne by the developers. I hope that the Government will draw that conclusion from the Select Committee report.
Finally, I return to the work and representations of my constituents and the organisations in my constituency that I mentioned earlier. We should never underestimate the value of such representations, which should be given greater weight in planning matters, especially in relation to developments on flood plains.
Often, the real experts on the benign effects, or otherwise, of developments are local people themselves. Local residents are the ones who have to live with those developments and suffer the damage caused by flooding. Sustainable development must mean development that is sustainable for the local community, residents and people who live on the doorstep of new developments. Local residents often have to live with the consequences of any such development. Local people also have detailed local knowledge and experience, often going back years and
decades, of potential risks in their area, not least the risk of flooding. We need to do more to tap into that knowledge which, together with the will and interests of local people, must become much more part of the decision-making process.We should listen to residents and their representatives much more and involve them in decision making, as organisations such as the Wimbledon Civic Forum in my constituency have sought to do. We should empower local people by giving them access to the information that they need to make an informed judgment on these matters. In that connection, I strongly advise the Government to allow the Environment Agency to publish its flood maps on the internet. The public should be able to have direct access to information on the degree of flood risk. Steps should also be taken to make known to the public which buildings in a given area are at particular risk from flooding, perhaps by means of a plaque or sign on the wall.
In the aftermath of the severe floods across Britain, the Environment Agency will, at the request of the Government, conduct a review of lessons learned. I hope that the Government will act on that review, learn the lessons of the floods and, in doing so, respond as positively as they can to the Select Committee report and the representations of my constituents, the organisations that I have mentioned and many others. I hope that they will tighten the planning process with regard to flood plain developments and give local people the information that they need to be properly aware of flood risk. I hope that they will give the Environment Agency the powers that it needs to reduce such risks effectively.
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