Robert Jenrick (Newark) (Con): I am fortunate that my Newark constituency has not been seriously flooded in this winter’s flooding, but it has been among the worst-flooded of any constituency in the country over the past few years. Forty towns and villages in my constituency have been flooded in the past three years alone, including… Read more »
Normal weather is a thing of the past
From Communications and Management for Sustainability (CMS) A relentless sequence of storms, record rainfall and sustained very high river flows in parts of the UK meant that December was an extraordinary month in both meteorological and hydrological terms, with wet conditions across the north contributed to the wettest calendar month on record for the UK… Read more »
Debate in Parliament on Flooding – 6th January 2016
The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs made a statement on Tuesday 5 January on flooding and was questioned by MPs about it. You can watch the statement and questions here: http://goo.gl/qGRZX6 You can read the statement and questions here: http://goo.gl/D5HE7g On Thursday 6 January, the House of Commons debated flooding. You… Read more »
Discussion on floods – Radio 5 Live – Thursday 7th January 2016 – features Jillian Labadz of NTU Brackenhurst
Peter Allen holding a discussion of the floods on Radio 5 Live, with an audience and panel including Government Floods Envoy Robert Goodwill MP (on the telephone, he was not in the room with the audience) York and Leeds City Council leaders (Judith Blake and Chris Steward) Shadow Floods Minister Alex Cunningham MP Architect Robert… Read more »
EFRA Committee Interview the Environment Agency
Scope of the inquiry – This one-off session was organised in response to Storm Desmond in early December. The first panel comprises of representatives from Cumbria. Since then, Storms Eva and Frank have brought flooding to Yorkshire and Lancashire as well as continued flooding to Cumbria. The second panel with the Environment Agency looks at flooding… Read more »
Pickering’s natural flood management scheme works
How a town in Yorkshire worked with nature to stay dry One notorious Yorkshire flood blackspot was celebrating staying dry – despite having been refused a multimillion pound defence scheme. They built 167 leaky dams of logs and branches – which let normal flows through but restrict and slow down high ones – in the… Read more »
Experts criticise George Osborne over flood protection funding
Tories promised £400m a year investment on flood defences but data shows spending was cut sharply at start of last parliament George Osborne has been accused of jeopardising Britain’s crumbling flood defences over the past five years by prioritising cuts to the deficit, and has also been warned that infrastructure spending may need to rise… Read more »
Paul Cobbing – Chief Executive, National Flood Forum on Radio 4 PM
Paul’s interview on 29th December 2015 with Eddie Mair – during the flooding in Cumbria and Yorkshire. He describes types of flood defences and how important the community’s knowledge is when designing flood management solutions.
10 measures that must be taken to prevent more flooding in the future
1. Introduce better flood warning systems 2. Modify homes and businesses to help them withstand floods 3. Construct buildings above flood levels 4. Tackle climate change 5. Increase spending on flood defences 6. Protect wetlands and introduce plant trees strategically 7. Restore rivers to their natural courses 8. Introduce water storage areas 9. Improve soil… Read more »
Labour calls for long-term flood protection plan devoid of politics
John McDonnell has challenged the government to agree to a bipartisan long-term plan on flood protection, as Conservatives struggled to respond to accusations that they slashed the budget for defences in the last parliament. Read more
