(1 day, 8 hours ago)
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Dr Ellie Chowns (North Herefordshire) (Green)
Not long after my election in 2024, I received an email from a father of three whose home had been flooded for the second time in five years. He wrote:
“The increasing uncertainty in the weather caused by global warming only increases the flood risk in the immediacy—and in future, we fear we won’t be able to secure insurance on the property. And we live in constant fear of repeat situations for something that, in theory, can be resolved.”
His words stayed with me, because they capture exactly what I hear across North Herefordshire, and what I am sure colleagues hear across the country. Flooding is no longer something that people talk about as a freak event or a piece of bad luck; increasingly, they expect it to happen again. As our climate changes, flooding is becoming something that communities now must plan around.
We recently marked Flood Action Week, and I pay huge tribute to everyone, from local volunteers to emergency responders, who worked tirelessly to help communities prepare. But for many, flooding is no longer an occasional emergency; it is becoming a part of life. We have already seen unprecedentedly deadly climate impacts this summer. The climate crisis is no longer a future threat; it is here now, and affecting homes, farms, businesses and critical infrastructure across the country.
As we head into winter, scientists are warning that a powerful supercharged El Niño could contribute to much wetter and stormier conditions during parts of this winter. We know that the risks are growing and that the cost of failing to prepare will be borne by our communities.
Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)
I commend the hon. Lady for bringing forward this debate—I spoke to her beforehand. This is not the Minister’s responsibility, but back home they have allocated £16,000 for flood resilience, which would hardly pay to get a JCB and a trailer down to where the coastal erosion and floods are happening. Does she agree that it is a case of penny wise and pound foolish? If we do not address flood resilience issues and coastal erosion now, we will pay substantially more later. The Minister should make the money available now.
Dr Chowns
Absolutely, and that is a point I will return to later in my speech. There is a huge benefit-cost ratio for early investment in flood resilience—it pays back many times over.
Let us recognise the scale of the challenge that we face: 6.3 million properties across the UK are already at risk of flooding. The Climate Change Committee estimates that flooding has already cost the UK around £3.3 billion every year and warns that annual damages could increase to about £4.5 billion a year by the middle of the century if we fail to adapt. As the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) has said, it would be much cheaper to invest now to ensure that we are protected against that.
The costs are measured not only in pounds, but in the strain placed on families trying to rebuild their lives. The bill for flooding is already here; the question is whether we invest now to reduce those costs or pay far more later.
Perran Moon (Camborne and Redruth) (Ind)
On investment, residents of Bissoe, which is partly in my constituency and partly in the constituency of the hon. Member for Truro and Falmouth (Jayne Kirkham), are fed up with floods every winter linked to abandoned local metal mines. It is a persistent problem across Cornwall. The Mining Remediation Authority, the budget for which partly sits with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, does not have adequate funding to deal with the challenges in Bissoe. Does the hon. Member agree that as the impacts of climate change worsen, Cornwall’s former mining community should not be left exposed without that flood resilience?
Dr Chowns
Once again, the hon. Member’s point is that as we face increasing frequency and severity of floods, existing problems are going to become worse, so we need to invest to protect communities against that. Investment early is going to be cheaper than paying the costs in the long run.
Manuela Perteghella (Stratford-on-Avon) (LD)
In my constituency, the Shipston Area Flood Action Group has led a natural flood management project, working together with local landowners to slow the flow of the River Stour upstream. Does the hon. Member agree that we need greater investment in natural flood management, so that communities are protected before flooding occurs while also helping to restore nature?
Dr Chowns
The hon. Member makes an excellent point that I was about to make myself. Natural flood management has got to be a core element of our response to flood risk. I have met families who have gone through the ordeal of seeing their homes flooded time and again.
I have met farmers who have watched valuable topsoil disappear from fields that they have worked for decades. I have met parents whose children cannot get to school because roads have become impassable. I have met business owners wondering how they will cope when the next storm comes. For all of those people, flood resilience is not an abstract issue; it is about whether they can live, work, study and plan with confidence.
Calum Miller (Bicester and Woodstock) (LD)
The hon. Lady is making a powerful case. Residents in my constituency have experienced the devastating effects of flooding and live in fear of it happening again. Does she agree that it is extraordinary that when a local flood agency looks into these matters and identifies the steps that can be taken, it does not have the powers to compel other agencies and, in particular, the water companies to take appropriate measures to prevent these things from happening again in future?
Dr Chowns
The hon. Gentleman’s point about co-ordination between agencies is absolutely crucial; it is another point that I will be coming to in my speech. This is an issue that crosses boundaries, because river catchments do not respect administrative or sectoral boundaries. We need to have a fully joined-up approach.
Herefordians know what severe flooding looks like. In 2020, Herefordshire experienced the worst flooding in more than 200 years of recorded history. Storm Dennis was absolutely devastating for many families and businesses. Six years on, residents tell me that it is not only the severity of flooding that worries them, but the frequency. The Minister may remember that I raised this issue basically every single month of my first few months in this Chamber because we were facing floods that frequently. Communities that have barely recovered from one flood are increasingly finding themselves preparing for the next. I hope that the Minister will be able to set out today exactly what action the Government are taking to better prevent, prepare for and respond to flooding.
Flooding means different things in different places. In Lyonshall, in my constituency, it means the worry that a new development may not have been built with the infrastructure needed to manage water safely. In Eardisland it means anxiety about whether support will be available when the next flood comes. One issue repeatedly raised with me by residents in Eardisland is the flood recovery framework. Following Storm Bert in late 2024, I attended a public meeting with more than 100 local residents—as ever, the people closest to the problem already knew what needed to be done. After those conversations, I wrote to Ministers to ask whether responsibility for activating the flood recovery framework should rest more with local authorities. From the perspective of someone whose home is flooded, distinctions about national thresholds make very little sense. Local people and local councils understand the impacts better than anyone else.
Dr Simon Opher (Stroud) (Lab)
The hon. Lady is making an excellent speech. I would like to talk about natural flood management and how it sits naturally with district councils. In my constituency we have had more than 1,200 interventions over 12 years—I think we lead nationally on this. I want in particular to praise Chris Uttley, who works for the district council, and who does an absolutely fantastic job with natural flood management—he has saved hundreds of homes and businesses from a repeat of the terrible 2007 floods. Would the hon. Lady join me in urging the Government to make it as easy as possible for councils to access the £25 million funding that the Government have earmarked for natural flood management so that we can unlock this tremendous potential in local government?
Dr Chowns
I am always in favour of Government making it easier for local authorities to unlock funding, as well as Government providing more funding to enable the good things, like natural flood management, to happen.
To finish my point on the flood recovery framework, will the Minister look again at whether local authorities should have a greater role in activating support under that framework.
Many of the flooding incidents that affect my constituency are caused not by rivers bursting their banks, but by heavy rainfall overwhelming surface drainage systems. As surface water flooding is becoming a greater risk, our planning system and development standards must catch up. Many colleagues across the House have called on the Government to commence schedule 3 to the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 and finally make sustainable drainage systems standard practice. Will the Minister therefore set out whether and when the Government will commence schedule 3 and make sustainable drainage systems standard in new developments?
Better planning must also be part of the solution. People understand that new homes are needed, but they expect flood risk to be properly reflected in planning decisions. This is at the core of the Green party’s policy of having the right homes in the right place at the right price.
I have seen this in my own constituency, when a constituent from Canon Pyon came to see me in my surgery a while back. They had moved into a new development relatively recently, and their neighbour had been flooded out of their house six weeks after moving in because the surface drainage provisions were inadequate—this was in a newly built development. I raised it with the council subsequently. This just highlights that we must integrate flood resilience into development, because we cannot be building developments that are going to flood so shortly after they are built. We need to have it much more clearly specified in the planning process and have much clearer follow-up to ensure that conditions placed on planning applications are actually followed through.
Flood resilience must also be better integrated into how we manage land. One of the absolutely lovely parts of my job is meeting farmers across North Herefordshire. They understand better than most that all of these strands are interconnected. Soil health affects water retention. Water affects crop yields. What happens upstream affects communities downstream, and what happens on one farm can affect flood risk miles away. That is why I am so impressed by schemes such as Wyescapes, which involves farmers working together to hold more water in the landscape to improve soil health, reduce pollution, restore nature and strengthen resilience, including flood resilience, across the whole catchment.
Adrian Ramsay (Waveney Valley) (Green)
My hon. Friend is making a powerful case. In constituencies that are vulnerable to flooding, such as Waveney Valley, farmers are indeed essential to managing water in a way that stores it on land and protects communities downstream. Countryside stewardship higher tier payments fund the work that creates wetlands, restores floodplains and plants woodland, but agreements are slow to reach farmers who are ready to mobilise, delaying essential work ahead of periods of heightened flood risk. Does my hon. Friend agree that DEFRA must properly resource both the budgets and capacity of Natural England and the Rural Payments Agency so that we can expand higher tier faster?
Dr Chowns
My hon. Friend makes an excellent point. The Government have a crucial role to play in supporting farmers to put in place the measures that are so helpful for our long-term resilience and have many wider community benefits too.
This work is key because healthy soils, healthy rivers and resilient landscapes are key to long-term food security. As the National Farmers’ Union points out, 58% of England’s highest quality agricultural land lies within floodplains, underlining the fact that flood resilience is not just an environmental issue but a food security issue. I know many farmers whose land has been at times completely under water, which has devastating impacts on their livelihood.
Farmers are increasingly having to manage both floods and drought as part of normal business planning. They want to be part of the solution, but they need the certainty and support to make long-term investments in managing water, improving soil health and restoring nature. Indeed, I met with the Herefordshire Rural Hub to discuss the local farmers’ water action group, which is looking exactly at how they can manage having excess water in the winter and not enough water in the summer, and connecting those two together to support our communities.
When farmers hold on to water on their land to protect homes and infrastructure downstream, they are providing a much wider public benefit. Does the Minister agree that farmers who help to reduce flood risk in this way should be properly recognised and fairly rewarded for the role they play?
More broadly, we need to invest much more in natural flood management, as my hon. Friend the Member for Waveney Valley (Adrian Ramsay) said. Restoring wetland, improving soil health, reconnecting rivers with their floodplains, planting trees, restoring hedgerows—all these things help to slow the flow of water through the landscape. Every drop of water held upstream is a drop that does not have to be managed in an emergency downstream.
As has been noted, rivers do not recognise administrative boundaries, and neither does floodwater. What happens upstream affects communities downstream, often many miles away, so what are the Government doing to improve co-ordination and co-operation between local authorities, farmers, the drainage boards, regulators and water companies across the whole catchment?
Flooding and drought are two sides of the same coin. I welcome the establishment of the new flood and drought resilience taskforce, which is currently looking at community engagement, water resilience and property flood resilience. Let me pay tribute to Flood Mary—one of my constituents—who has played a crucial role over many years in encouraging the adoption of property flood resilience. The test for me is how the work of the flood and drought resilience taskforce will translate into practical action on the ground for communities such as those in North Herefordshire. Met Office data shows that the winter of 2025-26 was the eighth wettest in England since records began, yet by August this year 71% of England had entered drought status. These are the extremes of flood and drought writ large, in our faces right now. It perfectly illustrates why flooding and drought can no longer be treated as separate challenges. What plans do the Government have to increase water storage, including new reservoirs, so that excess winter water can help tackle flooding while also improving resilience to summer droughts?
The case for action is overwhelming. Flooding threatens homes, food production, local economies and the long-term viability of communities. We know that investing now is far cheaper than paying for the damage later. In fact, the Climate Change Committee estimates benefit-cost ratios of 3:1 to 5:1 for natural flood management, 5:1 for property flood resilience, and 5:1 for other approaches to flood risk management. This is great value for money and a fantastic return on investment.
We know what works: better planning, better maintenance, stronger protection for homes, support for farmers and approaches that work with nature rather than against it. Indeed, I saw lots of that in action when I visited the Netherlands a couple of years ago with the Environmental Audit Committee. What was striking is that there they work out what needs to be done to protect communities, what the most cost-effective investments are and then how they are going to mobilise the funding. But in this country we seem to fight with the Treasury for a little pot of money, with everybody having to get their elbows out to engage in a bunfight about what resources can be secured for different places. We need a much more holistic approach. That requires more investment up front, but it will pay back many times over.
Dr Chowns
I am sorry, but I am going to finish as we are short of time.
The responsibility of Government is not simply to respond to flooding after it happens, but to build the resilience our communities will need in a rapidly warming climate. The question is whether the Government are ready to act at the scale that the challenge of flood resilience demands.
The Minister of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Emma Hardy)
I will do my best to croak my way through the rest of the debate. I thank the hon. Member for North Herefordshire (Dr Chowns) for securing this really important debate. It was heartening that there was so much I found myself nodding along with as she was speaking.
I know that the emotional and financial impact of flooding can be devastating on families and businesses. Like the hon. Lady, I have spoken to many people who have been affected by floods, including farmers whose crops have been damaged. I have also seen and heard from communities affected by flooding. It is not just about the economic impact, but about the impact on their mental health and wellbeing. The scars of flooding remain for a long time after the floodwaters recede.
I completely agree with the hon. Lady’s points about climate change. The situation now is that 81% of the country in drought, but we saw some flooding just last week—and one area that is in drought had a flood as well. We are dealing with the impact of climate change, which is absolutely here and now.
On a slightly different note, I find it frustrating that some parties in the House do not seem to accept that climate change is both real and here. Luckily, I can look around the Chamber and see that nobody in here currently does so, which is positive. As the hon. Lady said, this year may be especially challenging because we are expecting a strong El Niño, with an increased likelihood of wetter and stormier conditions across the UK during autumn and winter.
We are better prepared this year than we were last, and last year we were better prepared than we were the year before. That is partly because of the number of flood defences we have been able to build successfully and partly because we have been able to restore and maintain more of our flood defences. It is also because with the original floods taskforce, after each episode of flooding each winter, we wanted to do some honest lessons learned on what worked, what did not and what we could do better and set up that cycle of continuous improvement; the hon. Lady was right on that. I am therefore pleased that now, through the flood and drought resilience taskforce, we are thinking about this together. I fully agreed with the hon. Lady on how the things that help with drought help with flooding as well. If the soil can retain more moisture, that helps with drought in the summer—that helps with groundwater levels—but it will also absorb more water when there is a flood.
It was interesting that the hon. Lady mentioned the Netherlands. Just last week, I met someone and talked to them about their regional planning and—exactly as the hon. Lady said—how they look at a region and decide what is the best intervention to take in that area. We are looking to introduce a regional approach for water in this country. That is what is on my mind—what is the best answer? Water pollution has not been mentioned in the debate, but we know that too much rainwater ending up in the system can create overflows. If we have areas where we can hold more water—this adds to why we should be doing this and why it is a good thing—that helps to decrease pollution.
Of course, I have huge admiration for Flood Mary, who is a wonderful person; I wholeheartedly agree with the hon. Lady on that. The flood recovery framework is run by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, but I will ensure that the hon. Lady’s remarks are heard by the relevant Minister.
The existing flood resilience taskforce, which I have already mentioned, is all about how we prepare not only for more frequent periods of increased rainfall but frequent periods of low rainfall, looking at those two sides of the same coin. As the hon. Lady said, the eighth wettest winter in England since 1836 was followed in some parts of the country by the driest summer in a century. That brings the challenges together.
My focus at the moment is how we take the rain as it falls, and when it falls, how we use it to fill up our reservoirs so we are in the best possible position for March. It is also about how we make it easier for farmers. I am interested in what the hon. Lady mentioned about the work that her farmers are doing in their area. There is a great scheme by a water abstraction group in another part of the country, and it is absolutely one way to go forward. We have brought more people into the taskforce than ever before, and as the hon. Lady mentioned, some of the action groups are taking away specific actions.
I know the hon. Lady was on the Environmental Audit Committee, and one of the things that we have taken from the recommendations in the Committee’s report, which was a really good piece of work, was about how we create that one-stop shop for information. We have launched Flood Action online, which is about helping communities to understand their flood risk and to look for flood information. It would be so helpful if colleagues around the Chamber could help share that and get that information out. While I am asking everyone for favours, the Priority Services Register helps to identify people who are vulnerable and who would need water in case of an outage, because flooding can cause problems with water supply—anything on that would be super helpful.
We have changed the rules on investment. I know that the hon. Lady and I agree on our love of nature-based solutions and slowing the flow, which is a win for everybody. I was pleased to hear that there are some in her area as well. We are talking about a minimum level of investment, so the only thing I would correct my hon. Friend the Member for Stroud (Dr Opher) on is that it is not just a small amount of money that is going in; it is a minimum amount. We set it as a minimum because we want to encourage people to use more nature-based solutions where possible. The pushback I get is that it is not always suitable. Of course, it is not always suitable everywhere, but I think where we can, let us let nature do what it does best. If that helps slow the flow and creates and supports biodiversity, surely we can all get behind it.
While I have the Floor, and I am able to, I will talk a little bit about what we have been doing. After more than a decade of under-investment by the previous Government, we have invested £2.65 billion in our first two years, delivered real change, stabilised the condition of existing defences and done 250 flood defence projects, with new and improved defences coming online. The hon. Lady is right again: the money that we have put into that will prevent an estimated £10 billion in economic damage, provide communities with better protection, restore pride in our towns and defend valuable farmland from regular flooding.
Earlier this year, we announced our 10-year flood and coastal erosion investment programme, which will benefit 200,000 properties over the next three years. The targets are ambitious, but I am proud to get behind them. The programme is forecast to generate more than £27 billion of avoided economic damage, so I think that is pretty good for an investment of £7.9 billion. I think I should have mentioned that earlier in front of the Chancellor, but I will keep mentioning it—almost £7 of benefit for every £1 invested.
The Environment Agency continues to work with Herefordshire council and the River Lugg internal drainage board to reduce that risk faced by local communities. I am aware of the £276,000 investment in a new hydraulic model of the River Wye to improve the evidence base for future investment planning and development decisions along the river.
Turning to house building, although the hon. Lady knows that I am not directly responsible for it, I will reiterate the Government’s stance. The Government are committed to building the homes the country needs while ensuring they are resilient and safe from flooding, and a consultation on the new national planning policy framework concluded recently.
The updated policy clarifies how key flood risk tests should be applied and strengthens policies relating to coastal risk. Policy remains clear that inappropriate development in areas at risk of flooding should be avoided by directing development away from areas of highest risk. Where development is necessary in areas at risk of flooding, permission should be granted only if it can be demonstrated that the development will be safe for its lifetime, without increasing flood risk elsewhere. Additionally, the NPPF now requires sustainable drainage systems in new developments, designed to the national standards.
I am pleased that the hon. Lady also mentioned property flood resilience, which is another of my favourite things. The “FloodReady” report was published in October last year, with 22 recommendations and 50 supporting actions across six themes. We are looking at how we can move this forward and keep meeting regularly with the leadership group to see where we can make this something that is considered more of a normal part of something people do every day. The chair now sits on the flood resilience groups, which is really positive as well.
This Government are committed to strengthening resilience to flooding, not only to keep people safe but to support economic growth in rural and local communities across the country. By protecting businesses, reducing disruption and safeguarding jobs, these measures contribute to stability and growth in the face of increased climate change and flood risk. The Government’s record investment in flood defences will benefit communities across the country, and our reforms to the flood funding rules will ensure a more balanced system that strengthens rural resilience and delivers benefits for farming communities and the environment alike. This is a personal priority for me, and it is a privilege to be the Minister responsible for flooding. I remain determined to ensure that our approach to flood risk is effective and co-ordinated to support the public we all serve.
Question put and agreed to.