Flood protection funding 'too low'

A warning has been issued by MPs that the Government's flood protection funding is "inadequate".

The Environment Select Committee also said the infrastructure to deal with the kind of flooding which hit parts of England last June and July was in "an unclear and chaotic state".

Some 13 people lost their lives in the floods, 44,600 homes and 7,100 businesses were flooded and £3 billion of damage was caused.

Committee chairman Michael Jack warned that the public would not forgive the Government if its response to the disaster was not "comprehensive and well funded".

The committee said ministers had repeatedly suggested that the £800 million a year for flood management by 2010/2011 would allow the Government to deal effectively with flooding in the future.

But a report from the Efra committee warned the settlement under the Comprehensive Spending Review was "far less impressive under close analysis" and not sufficient to deal with traditional and new flooding threats.

The committee said it had been told the £800 million figure was heavily influenced by a 2004 Foresight Report which recommended a spend of £1 billion annually by 2015 - but only for coastal and river flooding.

Current flood defences focus almost entirely on river and coastal flooding but some two thirds of the floods last June and July were caused by surface water, often following heavy rainfall.

Mr Jack said Sir Michael Pitt should be appointed as the Environment Agency's "flood supremo" to insure his independent review commissioned by the Government into the flooding was implemented.

But the report warned that this may not happen unless the Government addressed an engineering skills shortage in the sector.

Mr Jack said: "The public will not forgive the Government if it is not seen to be responding to the lessons learnt from the floods of last summer.

"Our report has shown how confused and chaotic was the infrastructure when it came to preventing and dealing with surface water flooding.

"The Government must bring clarity to this situation so that the public, wherever they live, can have peace of mind that every effort is being made to avoid a repeat of the fiasco of last summer."

Shadow environment secretary Peter Ainsworth said: "The floods last summer revealed institutional confusion and this report shows that without decisive action the Government is sleepwalking the country into another flooding disaster."

Liberal Democrat environment spokesman Steve Webb said the current levels of funding for flooding were "totally inadequate".

"The ABI, the Government's own Foresight report and the agency responsible for flood defences are all calling for spending to be increased to £1 billion, but their advice is falling on deaf ears.

"The £200 million increase the Government announced last year does not stand up to scrutiny when inflation and rising costs in the building trade are taken into consideration."

The Association of British Insurers' (ABI) director general Stephen Haddrill said despite last year's disaster, the UK remained ill-prepared for coping with a major flood.

"As the Committee recommends, the Government should review the adequacy of its current flood spending plans."

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