Floods (Hansard, 20 June 2000)

§ Mr. Morley

The Chairman of the Environment Agency has provided me with a report of progress up to the end of April 2000. Copies are being placed in the House Libraries.

I am pleased to note that the major work programme set out in the Action Plan is almost complete.

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Key developments since the Agency's last report, which covered the period to end of December 1999, are as follows: Completion of the first phase of the telemetry works resulting in an additional 109 river level gauges, 16 river flow gauges and 65 rain gauges. These will enable conditions to be monitored during flooding and the calibration of flood models. A concordat between the Agency and the Meteorological Office has been signed to provide a framework for improved liaison and exchange of data. The Agency has completed its programme of visual inspections of its flood defences. Local authorities have inspected between 75 per cent. and 90 per cent. of their defences. The remainder are scheduled for completion by September in line with the Ministry's High Level Targets. Defences belonging to third parties have been inspected where identified through discussions with local authorities. Of the 1.6 million properties within the flood plain, one million addresses have been identified as high risk. This will enable flood risk information and other publicity material to be better targeted within the wider flood plain. A letter designed to raise awareness of the flood risk to caravan sites has been produced and distributed together with a request for site owners to make visitors aware of such risks and what they should do in the event of a flood. The Agency is providing guidelines to enable the severity and extent of flooding to be calculated on a consistent basis in order to better inform post event surveys. Two activities have yet to be fully completed by the Agency. These are the introduction of the new flood warning codes and revised management structures. The new flood warning codes are scheduled to be introduced on 12 September 2000. The introduction of the revised management structures will be phased during April to September 2000 in order to minimise the risk of disruption to services.

The Agency's Easter Floods Project Team has now completed its work and is to be congratulated for its efforts in delivering the Action Plan and meeting the priorities I set out in striving for a seamless and integrated service of flood forecasting, warning and response. The outstanding issues will be taken forward by the Agency's National Flood Warning Centre. Further activity in improving flood defence will be driven by the High Level Targets that the Government set last November.

As regards the flooding earlier this month, I am acutely aware of the suffering experienced by many communities in northern England, and express the Government's sympathy to all those affected. I have asked the Chairman of the Environment Agency to provide a report on the flooding, by 21 July 2000, to include:

the impact of the flooding;
the causes of the flooding, including assessment of the contributory factors suggested by local members of the public;
the effectiveness and timeliness of flood warnings;
to what extent the effects of these floods were mitigated as a result of the measures taken to implement the Independent Report of the Easter 1998 floods; and
what further lessons can be learned from these floods.