Flooding
Sarah Edwards Excerpts(3 months, 1 week ago)
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Sarah Edwards (Tamworth) (Lab)
It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Mr Sharma. I thank the hon. Member for Tewkesbury (Mr Robertson) for calling such an important debate. My constituency of Tamworth has a long history of flooding, but Storm Henk was the third most serious incident in the area. Tamworth has 8.8 km of linear flood defences made up of walls, embankments and other structures, such as outfalls and penstocks. As it stands, 3 km of those defences are from the 1960s and require improvement as they do not meet the design standard of today.
The Environment Agency estimates that 2,205 residential properties in the area are at risk, as well as a significant number of non-residential properties, like the Ventura retail park. I spoke with the Environment Agency about flood defences and the fact that there is a need for increased funding. It is currently putting together a business case, and I hope that areas such as mine, which are at higher risk and which may get worse due to climate change, are given their due consideration and the protections they need. We need to protect homes and businesses in our constituencies with short, mid and long-term preparations for flooding.
Next month, I will host a flooding summit with key stakeholders to review the ways that organisations currently work together and respond to flooding incidents, and to collaboratively explore what lessons we have learned, plans for better protection against future incidents and the practical solutions that can be put in place now. On a broader level, Labour has laid out plans for a flood resilience taskforce to improve joined-up thinking and communication. Can the Minister tell us whether the Government have similar plans to look at ways in which community groups, local residents and businesses can link up with those larger authorities and those with responsibilities, such as the Environment Agency, to collaboratively work together at a local and national level, and outline how we can respond in order to live with flooding and learn how to deal with it better in the future?
Storm Henk
Sarah Edwards Excerpts(4 months, 1 week ago)
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Sarah Edwards (Tamworth) (Lab)
Last week, I tried to visit residents of Tamworth villages such as Harlaston, Edingale and Elford, after the flooding of Storm Henk. I could not get to certain places in my constituency to meet them. One family had to stay overnight with family in Nottingham because they were unable to get home. These issues will only get worse each year as we face increasing climate challenges. Will the Government say what budget has been confirmed for improving flood defences in my area and when further defences will be built?
Robbie Moore
It is of course devastating when any community is impacted by flooding. That is why this Government have doubled the amount of funding that we are putting into flood resilience, from £2.6 billion to £5.2 billion from 2021 to 2027. We are taking action to improve our flood resilience and responding quickly to those communities that have been impacted, through the announcement we made very quickly this weekend on the flood recovery scheme. I am closely monitoring the situation to see where additional councils, if they meet the requirements, can apply for extra funding, and I will continue to do so.