'Climate change is making flooding a regular event' - New report urges national standards to tackle rising flood threat
It's hoped that a new report on flood prevention makes "bold" calls for the Government to "take tougher action" against the growing threat of rising river levels.
Shrewsbury MP Julia Buckley, a member of the Environmental Audit Select Committee, has helped produce a new report that urges ministers to introduce national standards for flood resilience, backed by adequate long-term funding.
Using Shrewsbury as a case study, the report highlights local challenges and solutions shaped by voices including the Shrewsbury Quarry Flood Action Group, Minsterley Parish Hall, local farmers, and businesses including the Sabrina Boat.
The report sets out 39 recommendations, including making flood resilience a statutory duty for councils, improving how local funding needs are assessed, and providing greater support for community resilience groups.
Julia Buckley personally handed the report to Water and Flooding Minister Emma Hardy this week.
Mrs Buckley said: "Flooding of the River Severn in our town and beyond has been an absolute menace for householders and local businesses across many generations, and tougher, decisive action needs to be taken.
"I’m proud to sit on the Environmental Audit Committee in Parliament, which has just published this important report into flood resilience in England, with Shrewsbury featured as the primary case study. Indeed, the word Shrewsbury appears in the report no fewer than 20 times.
"The report - which has 39 recommendations - calls for clear flood resilience standards and a legal duty for authorities to act, with practical steps to protect communities like ours."
Recent analysis by the National Flood Forum found that flooding has caused an estimated £40.5 million economic hit to Shrewsbury.
And Mrs Buckley said she has attended five flood-related meetings this week alone.
She added: "Climate change is making flooding become a very regular event, and we’ve got to stop reacting as though it’s a surprise. What we now have here is a solid, hard-hitting report with realistic recommendations. And we’re really being quite bold and ambitious. We’re saying we can’t ignore this problem anymore. We now need to see these words turned into action.”
"Yes, it’s about investment and it’s about funding, but it’s also about moving resources and expectations into preparing before a flood rather than after it."
A spokesperson for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) told the committee that protecting communities from flooding is one of its five core priorities.
In its response, Defra said it remained committed to improving flood resilience, following what it described as years of underinvestment by the previous government.
It said: "£2.65 billion will be invested over two years in building, maintaining and repairing flood defences."
