Leeds is only too well aware of the Government’s failings claims Council Leader after today’s report by the Environmental Audit Committee which found that the Government is failing to protect communities at risk of flooding.
The Committee warns that a reactive approach to funding for flood defence exposes the Government's lack of long-term strategic planning to manage flood risk. The Committee found that funding fluctuates year-on-year. During the last Parliament funding was initially cut and only increased after the winter 2013/2014 floods.
Mary Creagh MP, Chair of the Environmental Audit Committee, said:
"We know that flooding is projected to get worse and occur more frequently because of climate change, so it just isn’t good enough for Government to react to flooding events as they occur. Communities at risk deserve certainty from Government."
The Committee also found that the condition of critical flood defences was in decline. The independent Worsfold review demonstrated a relationship between flood maintenance spending and the good condition of critical flood defences. As the money required to maintain these defences was cut, the number of defences which met the Environment Agency's required condition also declined.
Mary Creagh said:
"The Government needs to put money into the upkeep of existing flood defences as well as investing in new defences. Failure to do so can have terrible consequences for residents and businesses when defences fail.
The Committee learnt that, while most government flood spending would be allocated according to strict economic criteria, a significant proportion of the new funding announced in this year’s Budget - £700 million - would be allocated based on a “political calculation”. This could lead to inefficiencies in flood investment, poor decision making and, potentially, regionally unfair outcomes.
Following the publication of the Environmental Audit Committee report into the government's approach to flooding, Councillor Judith Blake, leader of Leeds City Council said:
“Sadly, Leeds has first-hand experience of the consequences of the government’s approach to funding for flood defences as laid out in the committee’s report.
“A comprehensive scheme that would have offered protection to many Leeds residents and businesses was a victim of the short-sighted and imbalanced strategy when that scheme was rejected in 2011. Those very residents and businesses are now counting the substantial costs.
“We’re working very closely with the Environment Agency to progress – with all haste – the feasibility study on a range of measures that will offer Leeds the flood protection it needs and deserves for the future.
“However, we and Leeds residents and businesses need certainty from the government that we won’t be let down again and that the entirely unfair and unequal distribution of resources the committee refer to as a ‘political calculation’ is addressed.”
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