Rivers and bogs tamed for centuries at risk of returning to North Sea, MP fears

English rivers and bogs tamed for centuries are astatine hazard of being flooded, an MP fears.

Steff Aquarone said it is clip to marque h2o infrastructure attraction “sexy”, which flooding curate Emma Hardy said she would effort her “best” to achieve.

The Liberal Democrat MP for North Norfolk besides called connected the Government to articulation up antithetic agencies which are each liable for water, drainage and flooding crossed his county.

In the words of my section h2o absorption director, we person to marque attraction sexy. The Romans were the ones who began this work. It would beryllium a calamity for this to beryllium the procreation which yet gave up. Not connected my watch

Steff Aquarone

During a Westminster Hall statement astir flood preparedness successful Norfolk, Mr Aquarone said Norfolk’s landscapes are “filled with farmland and floodplains”.

He continued: “While this operation of waterways and low-lying onshore contributes to Norfolk being the astir beauteous region successful the country, it presents a cleanable tempest for flooding problems.

“Hundreds of years ago, the Norfolk Broads were simply a immense estuary. Work implicit the centuries has tamed these waterways into what they are today, but without continued work, quality would simply instrumentality our country to the North Sea.

“In the words of my section h2o absorption director, we person to marque attraction sexy. The Romans were the ones who began this work.

“It would beryllium a calamity for this to beryllium the procreation which yet gave up. Not connected my watch.”

Mr Aquarone aboriginal praised flooding agencies for moving “incredibly hard but they tin lone enactment with what they’ve got, and a large contented that galore of them look is that their backing settlements are seldom delivered much than 1 twelvemonth ahead”.

He urged Ms Hardy to springiness liable authorities the quality to acceptable longer word budgets and added: “The responsibilities and powers are breached up and siloed crossed councils and agencies and statutory bodies, each with expertise and acquisition but incapable to easy beryllium shared crossed them all.”

Turning to cases helium had heard from his constituency casework, Mr Aquarone said 1 husbandman mislaid £100,000 worthy of murphy harvest crossed 30 acres which were waterlogged, and helium asked: “Why are insurers putting oregon replacing ankle-height plugs successful properties they cognize could flood again erstwhile logic would dictate these request to beryllium moved higher up to support them successful the future?”

George Freeman, the Conservative MP for Mid Norfolk, said clime alteration was driving flooding “compounded by” housebuilding, “plugging successful caller modern drains to aged Victorian colony drain infrastructure, and erstwhile you get aggravated rain, the full batch merges and sewage starts rising done people’s gardens and lavatories”.

Mr Freeman earlier told MPs: “There are 36 organisations successful Norfolk – conscionable successful Norfolk – tasked with and sharing work for dealing with flooding.

“And basically, nary of them are capable to instrumentality work properly. I’ll beryllium kind, the subordinate gets passed. People person had enough.”

He suggested Ms Hardy would person “culverts being named aft her for decades to come” if she improves information monitoring and accountability.

Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay, the MP for Waveney Valley which straddles the Norfolk and Suffolk border, told MPs floodplain, pond and dam restoration is often carried retired by “excellent but tiny charities warring implicit pots of money” which request much Government currency crossed the country.

He called for “no much subordinate passing and that nature-based solutions get a due absorption and attention”.

Responding, the curate said: “Am I going to marque attraction sexy? Well, I americium going to bash my champion to marque attraction sexy.”

Ms Hardy pointed to a written connection which she made successful Parliament earlier this month, which promised a reappraisal of the flooding look and reforms “to guarantee that floods backing argumentation drives adjacent concern moving and brings successful wider fiscal contributions to flood schemes”.

She besides said the Environment Agency is moving connected a “natural flood absorption (NFM) benefits instrumentality aimed astatine providing a nationally accordant mode of assessing flood hazard and wider benefits from NFM projects and this is due to the fact that successful the past, immoderate of the difficulties successful getting these flood projects disconnected the crushed has been it’s precise hard to cipher the existent payment that you summation from thing erstwhile it’s earthy flood management”.

She said the Government had allocated £50 cardinal to interior drainage boards and £60 cardinal to storm-affected farmers which could get into their slope accounts arsenic soon arsenic Thursday.