Flood Risk and Flood Defence Infrastructure: North-west England

Sarah Dyke Excerpts

Tuesday 18th November 2025 Westminster Hall

[Sarah Dyke (Glastonbury and Somerton) (LD)]

It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Dr Murrison. I thank the hon. Member for Warrington South (Sarah Hall) for securing this important debate.

In recent years, communities across the north-west have repeatedly endured devastating flooding, most recently following Storm Éowyn, which brought with it devastation and a prolonged recovery. We have also seen that severe impact in Somerset, including when Storm Claudia reaped havoc right across the south-west and into Oxfordshire over the weekend. Extreme weather events are becoming more frequent, which means that it is even more important to ensure that robust flood resilience is in place, through both a national strategy and local community flood resilience strategies. These events underline the fact that we cannot continue building homes without ensuring that the necessary infrastructure is in place to protect communities from flooding.

My constituent Zoe moved into her new home in Martock in 2022 and then discovered that her property had been built without basic flood protection infrastructure. Her garden was built on clay without appropriate drainage and is also on a severe slope. Every time it rains, it floods. That is not an isolated case, more a consequence of a planning system that too often prioritises completion over responsibility. It is also a legacy of the former Conservative Government, who slashed flood protection plans for homes and failed to invest in flood defences, leaving communities to fend for themselves.

If the Government are committed to building the homes that people need, they must also ensure that new developments provide suitable flood mitigation measures, including sustainable drainage systems that properly manage excess rainfall. The Liberal Democrats have been clear: the Government must commit to implementing schedule 3 of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 to legally require the installation of drainage systems in new builds to strengthen local flood resilience.

Furthermore, the Government have an obligation to ensure that all future housing developments are supported by upgrades to infrastructure to accommodate the expansion. Their current failure to do so is causing my constituents in Mudford, which floods regularly, to face the prospect of another 1,000 homes just outside their village. That is causing great anxiety. The proposals for that development would use the existing fragile sewerage system without any further enhancements, heightening the flood risk as the infrastructure will simply not cope with the increased capacity.

The Liberal Democrats have been consistent: the Government must ensure water companies are made statutory consultees during the planning process. That will help prevent future sewage spills and local flooding by ensuring that any increases in capacity are matched by suitable infrastructure upgrades.

The concerns are not limited to planning decisions; in fact, they are being weakened by the agencies tasked with protecting our communities. As my hon. Friend the Member for Yeovil (Adam Dance) mentioned, owing to a funding shortfall the Environment Agency recently issued withdrawal notices to ratepayers in Somerset regarding the cessation of maintenance on the designated main rivers. I thank the Minister, who met me last week to discuss the issue, for her commitment to come and meet me and Somerset stakeholders at some point next year.

The Environment Agency’s decision passes the responsibility on to riparian owners, who in many cases lack the financial ability or knowledge to undertake maintenance, and it will only heighten their anxiety around flood risk. Given the Environment Agency’s own modelling, which has shown that an additional 39,000 homes in the south-west could be at risk of flooding by 2050, that action is contrary to the urgent need to strengthen flood resilience in flood-prone areas such as Somerset.

Last autumn, we welcomed the Chancellor’s decision to commit £2.4 billion towards flood defences. However, with increasingly severe and frequent flooding, compounded by the Environment Agency’s budgetary constraints, the Government need to urgently commit to address longer-term flooding. The Liberal Democrats are calling for a further £5.3 billion to ensure that flood defences are built more quickly and provided to all necessary communities, to increase local preparedness and resilience.

As a Liberal Democrat and the daughter of a farmer, I recognise the invaluable role of farmers in flood management: they store flood water on their land to protect rural communities. For example, the Kerton family, based at Higher Farm in Chilton Cantelo, have repeatedly stored water on their farm, including having half of their farmland submerged for much of last winter. The current custodian, Nobby, told me that he is extremely concerned that the Government have no clear plan for supporting farmers who are sacrificing their land and livelihoods to plug the gaps in rural infrastructure. By acting now, we can protect homes, safeguard livelihoods and create greater flood resilience for rural communities.