Campbell: Govt flood defences on wrong course
Wednesday, 22 August 2007 12:00 AM
The Environment Agency has issued an 'enhanced flood warning' as unrelenting weather conditions continue across the UK in what has been the wettest summer on record.
Despite predicted sunshine over the Bank Holiday weekend, experts have said the country needs to remain vigilant.
The warning came as Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell said the government had failed to learn the lessons of the summer floods.
As a result of flooding in June and July, eight people were killed and thousands of homes irreparably damaged as rain water engulfed large parts of the midlands, south-west and Wales.
Terry Marsh from the Centre of Ecology and Hydrology said: "We can expect a longer period with enhanced risk of flooding. Soils have been the wettest since records began in 1961.
"The rainfall that flooded Tewkesbury last month was exceptional - you would expect to see that sort of thing maybe once every 1,000 years."
To date, the government has pledged £14 million to compensate victims of the flooding, many of whom did not have home insurance. But insurance companies have said this sum will in no way cover the costly repairs caused by the atrocious conditions.
On a visit to one of the badly affected areas in Gloucester today, Sir Menzies criticised the government's flood policy.
Mr Campbell spoke at TriService Emergency Centre, which was commended for dealing effectively with the flooding.
The Liberal Democrat leader claimed this service was now threatened with closure, under new government plans to move the functions of 46 fire and rescue centres to regional command centres.
He claimed the government was "compromising safety" and putting lives at risk in doing this.
He said: "Closing down locally based centres will severely undermine a community's ability to cope with emergency situations such as flooding, while regional centres will lack crucial local knowledge.
"Criticism of this move has come from all sides including the Fire Brigade Union and parliamentary select committee reports, but the government is not listening."
He criticised government plans to build 200,000 new homes a year by 2010, saying this would involve building on flood plains, leaving already vulnerable regions open to further harm.
Sir Menzies urged the government to "put the minds of the British people at rest" - such as the residents of Tewksbury who recently marched in protest to the proposed developments of flood plains - by giving responsibility for flood defences to one agency.
Gordon Brown has promised a full review on the floods to determine how the risk and affect of flooding can be reduced in future.
Flood defence spending at the time of the national disaster was £500 million, although this figure had been cut by £15 million from 2006. In the aftermath, Gordon Brown pledged to increase funding to £850 million by 2012.
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