Oral Answers to Questions

Holly Lynch Excerpts

Thursday 24th November 2016 Commons Chamber

[George Eustice]

I understand my hon. Friend’s issue. The situation with wild salmon is particularly bleak at the moment, which is why we are looking at additional measures to reduce the catch through netting. However, I am quite sympathetic to the arguments made about the sustainability of T-nets, which I understand are used along the shoreline in his constituency, and I am more than happy to meet him.

[Holly Lynch (Halifax) (Lab)]

T4. In the weeks immediately after the floods that devastated my constituency and others last year, the Government were able to argue that there was no evidence of market failure to deliver affordable insurance for businesses affected by the flood. Since then, however, I have had case after case of businesses being denied insurance or offered unaffordable packages. What are the Government doing to ensure that such businesses can secure affordable insurance?

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Dr Thérèse Coffey)]

Since the floods, small and medium-sized enterprises have received over £6 million of direct support from the Government to help with their resilience. On insurance, I recently met representatives of the British Insurance Brokers Association and expect them to be launching new products next month so that more businesses can get flood insurance.

Driven Grouse Shooting

Holly Lynch Excerpts

Monday 31st October 2016 Westminster Hall

[Kerry McCarthy (Bristol East) (Lab)]

Thank you, Mr Davies. Let us be clear what we are debating today. It is not whether people are entitled to shoot for the pot, whether shooting has a role in conservation or the wider issue of shooting for sport. We are not talking today about pheasant shooting, deer stalking or even walked-up grouse shooting. We are talking about driven grouse shooting because particular concerns are associated with it. It is rather disappointing that the hon. Member for St Austell and Newquay (Steve Double) sat through the evidence to the Petitions Committee and the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee last week and does not seem to have grasped that basic point about the petition.

The weight of scientific evidence is that driven grouse shooting damages habitats, pollutes our water, increases greenhouse gas emissions, increases flood risk and, all too often, involves the illegal persecution of birds of prey. As we have heard, shooting estates commonly burn heather and peat on the moors to increase the red grouse population. Reference has been made to the work by the University of Leeds on the effects of moorland burning on the eco-hydrology of river basins—the EMBER study—which concluded that burning reduces organic matter in the upper peat layers and depletes it of nutrients. Heather burning is intensifying as grouse shooting is intensifying.

Water tables were significantly deeper in burned catchments, indicating greater peat degradation and more carbon released into the atmosphere and water. This contributes to both climate change and to our water bills, as the water companies incur additional costs in removing the dissolved carbon. Treating a single drinking water catchment for the effect of peat burning may cost a six-figure sum each year.

The Energy and Climate Change Committee identified the climate threat in its report to Parliament last year and warned that the

“the majority of upland areas with carbon-rich peat soils, are in poor condition. The damaging practice of burning peat to increase grouse yields continues, including on internationally protected sites.”

Burning also reduces the uplands’ capacity to hold water, thereby increasing the flood risk downstream. In his paper calling for a radical rethink of flood defences, Dieter Helm, chair of the Natural Capital Committee, identified the burning of heather on grouse moors as a publicly subsidised practice that pays

“little or no attention to the flood risk dimensions.”

The Government’s national flood resilience review neglected this. The focus seemed to be on slowing down the flow instead of looking at what mismanagement in the uplands caused the flow to speed up in the first place. That is surely the wrong way to go about things.

It is not surprising that the highest number of signatures for the petition came from Calder Valley because it is communities such Hebden Bridge—which was devastated by the Boxing day floods, as I saw for myself when I visited with my hon. Friend the Member for Halifax (Holly Lynch)—that pay the price for the mismanagement and abuse of the uplands.

[Holly Lynch (Halifax) (Lab)]

I thank my hon. Friend for coming to see the devastation in my constituency in Calderdale in the aftermath of the Boxing day floods. I heard the points made by the hon. Member for Broxbourne (Mr Walker), for whom I have the utmost respect, but does my hon. Friend agree that we are not talking about banning grouse shooting in isolation, but that we must take the management of moorlands seriously as part of a package of measures if we are to have any chance of managing flood risk in future?

[Kerry McCarthy]

I agree entirely with my hon. Friend. She will know that Natural England initiated a prosecution, but proceedings were dropped in 2012 and the burning continued.

Oral Answers to Questions

Holly Lynch Excerpts

Thursday 17th March 2016 Commons Chamber

[George Eustice]

The authorisations to use all pesticides are decided by both the European Chemicals Agency and the European Food Safety Authority in the European Union. The chemicals regulation directorate in the Health and Safety Executive contributes regularly to them.

[Holly Lynch (Halifax) (Lab)]

T6. I echo the sentiments of my constituency neighbour the hon. Member for Calder Valley (Craig Whittaker) in welcoming the announcement yesterday on flood defences. May I probe for a little bit more detail and ask how much of the £150 million pot the Secretary of State anticipates will be available for Calderdale? Given that it is being raised in a tax in this way, when does she anticipate it becoming available?

Flood Insurance for Businesses

Holly Lynch Excerpts

Monday 8th February 2016 Commons Chamber

[Craig Whittaker]

As the hon. Gentleman knows, the Government have given a commitment to look at that funding to see how they can help. I dare say the Minister will give us an update on that.

Of the many businesses across the Calder Valley which are experiencing these difficulties, I will cite just three of the many examples coming in daily to illustrate some of the concerns that I have become aware of. I will not name the companies as we do not want their customers to lose faith any more than they have already. The first is a leading high-end British furniture manufacturer located in Mytholmroyd which is experiencing difficulties similar to those faced by other businesses. It is a very successful manufacturer of sofas, employing some 100 local people. On Boxing day, it was flooded for the second time in just four years. After the last flood it could get insurance only for stock, not for machinery or anything else relating to flooding. It is facing a loss of around £500,000. The business will survive and continue, but of significant concern is the insurance position going forward. Its insurance cover was due for renewal only last week and it has been told that it will not be able to access flood cover again, even for stock.

At the other end of the Calder Valley, located in Brighouse, is a nationally acclaimed climbing centre which opened in 2011 and now has over 30,000 members. Together with its sister business, a bar and a restaurant, it employees 30 local people and occupies a strategic site that is central to the regeneration of the wider area. As the business is located between the river and the canal, it has been unable to access any flood insurance since it was set up. The business incurred losses when it was flooded in 2012 and now, following the latest floods, it faces a very substantial bill and a battle to stay in business. Once again, the business is in limbo.

Last but by no means least, I will mention a large manufacturing firm which has been flooded on four separate occasions over the past decade. The business has been able to access flood insurance in the past, but has been told in no uncertain terms by its insurers that it will not receive flood cover in the future. Its inquiries of other insurers have been unsuccessful on account of the ridiculous terms and conditions that have been quoted. The difficulties in accessing insurance, and the losses incurred by being flooded so regularly, now mean that it is likely that this business will close, with the loss of 40 jobs.

[Holly Lynch (Halifax) (Lab)]

Does the hon. Gentleman agree that bigger and smaller businesses alike may be significant employers for neighbouring constituencies, and the thought of flooding just once is so serious that they may think of moving out of the Calder Valley? The loss of those jobs, and the loss of the business rates those businesses pay and the support that they provide to communities, is serious. Business insurance is a big part of ensuring that we are an attractive place in which to keep trading.

[Craig Whittaker]

The hon. Lady is right. As she knows, the Calder Valley is made up of high-sided valleys, so there are few places for those businesses to relocate locally. If they move out of the Calder Valley, we will lose the job skill sets and the local communities will wither and die. I shall return to that.

Although I am encouraged by the words of the Prime Minister and his assurances that he is looking very closely at this issue, my experience leads me to believe that there are potentially hundreds of businesses in my constituency which are unable to access flood insurance. The examples I mentioned are the tip of the iceberg and serve only to illustrate the difficulties that some businesses are experiencing because of the lack of adequate cover. If this situation is replicated nationally in communities susceptible to flooding, which I imagine is the case, this means that thousands of businesses across the UK are experiencing these difficulties.

Every community that is susceptible to flooding has its unique challenges and this is certainly the case in the Calder Valley. Towns in my constituency such as Todmorden, Walsden, Hebden Bridge and Mytholmroyd, Elland and Brighouse are located next to the River Calder at the bottom of steep-sided valleys. They are proud communities and their small businesses and independent traders are the lifeblood and the beating heart of our area. The topography of those areas is very challenging and the transport links are limited. This means that there is limited land for development, as I said to the hon. Member for Halifax (Holly Lynch), so locating to another premises in the area is not a viable option for many businesses. This underlines the serious economic challenge that communities such as the Calder Valley face. If these businesses close down or move away from the area, we are in grave danger of losing the vast employable skills and expertise built up over generations, and our local communities are in grave danger of withering on the vine and dying. The importance of this issue, then, cannot be overstated.

With Flood Re, which is for domestic properties, the Government have shown that it is possible to work with the insurance industry to create a scheme that can fill the gaps in the existing market. They are currently talking with the Association of British Insurers about business insurance. The ABI feels that it is the Government’s responsibility to fix this issue, while the Government, I am sure, feel it is for the market to fix it. However, I suspect the solution is somewhere in the middle—

Flooding

Holly Lynch Excerpts

Wednesday 6th January 2016 Commons Chamber

[Holly Lynch (Halifax) (Lab)]

On Boxing day, my constituency of Halifax and the neighbouring Calder Valley constituency were devastated by Storm Eva. I echo the sentiments that we have heard expressed around the Chamber and thank the council officers, emergency services and armies of volunteers who committed their time and effort over the Christmas period and selflessly came to help with the clean-up. Most of the volunteers were local, but some came from much further afield to play their part. Their staggering generosity and compassion allowed us to make a great deal of progress in the hours and days immediately after the floods. We are eternally grateful to them.

Early on in the crisis, Calderdale Council established community hubs in the affected areas from which the efforts could be co-ordinated. Christ church in Sowerby Bridge, which is run by Angela, the reverend canon, and her wardens, served the community with distinction. My staff gave up part of their Christmas break to help me open a temporary parliamentary office out of Christ church to liaise with the relevant agencies and offer support and advice to victims where we could. I thank them for their time.

The hubs served as a point where donations could be dropped off. Had it not been for the efforts of the volunteers at Christ church in organising and distributing the donations, the church would literally have been overwhelmed with the cleaning products, food, toiletries and clothes donated by individuals and businesses to assist the flood victims. Because there was such a huge response to the call for donations of clothes, the local authority has opened a pop-up charity shop in Halifax town centre, where the excess clothes donations are being sold. The money raised is going to the community foundation fund for the flood victims, which the Government have agreed to match.

I turn to the impact on residential properties. There are a number of old mills and factories along the River Calder, which are a reminder of our days as a textile powerhouse. Many of those buildings have been converted into apartments. I met residents who lived in some of the ground-floor apartments, where every room was flooded. They lost everything from the white goods in their kitchen to the clothes in their wardrobe. I spoke to one resident who had been informed only days before the flood that his insurance would not be renewed because of his proximity to the river. He had been unable to resolve the situation before the floods wiped him out on Boxing day.

I visited businesses, some of which are big employers in my constituency, that had never been flooded before. The cost and devastation that have been caused by being flooded just once mean that they are thinking long and hard about whether they want to rebuild in the same premises. The shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs joined me on a visit to Pulman Steel, which was visited twice by the Chancellor in the run-up to the 2010 and 2015 general elections. It is faced with having to refit its factory completely and is battling hard to be up and trading again at full strength as soon as possible.

Today, I have written to the Chancellor, inviting him to make a return visit to Pulman Steel. From his previous visits, he will know that it is a supplier to a number of key northern powerhouse infrastructure projects, so it is of strategic importance to the north and beyond that it operates at full strength as quickly as possible. I ask for his support in getting it there. It is essential for the local economy that we remain an attractive place for businesses to operate. We need to ensure that they have the specialist support they require to get back on their feet as soon as possible.

With regard to the damage to infrastructure in our area, I thank the Secretary of State for her comments yesterday about Elland bridge and its national significance. I am keen not to reduce this debate to one exclusively about funding because a comprehensive strategy to combat the effects of floods needs to be about changing attitudes towards the environment and climate change, as much as anything else. Having said that, I am mindful that a change in attitudes alone will not rebuild our damaged bridge or repair our highways in the short term.

Flooding

Holly Lynch Excerpts

Tuesday 5th January 2016 Commons Chamber

[Elizabeth Truss]

I pay tribute to my hon. Friend for all the work that he has done to raise the concerns of local residents. It was good to meet him at the Environment Agency’s headquarters in York to talk about the situation. Telecommunications are critical. One issue has been that bridges, such as Tadcaster bridge and Elland bridge, carry critical communications infrastructure. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is part of the Cobra meetings and we have expedited getting those services back up and running.

[Holly Lynch (Halifax) (Lab)]

My constituency of Halifax and the neighbouring constituency of Calder Valley were devastated by the floods on Boxing day. Will the Secretary of State join me in thanking the army of volunteers that came to Calderdale and played an instrumental role in the clean-up? Will she meet me and representatives of Calderdale Council to discuss the bridges and infrastructure projects that have just been mentioned, which will be essential in getting Calderdale back up and running?

[Elizabeth Truss]

The hon. Lady is absolutely right. Calder Valley was very badly affected. We have schemes in the pipeline for Mytholmroyd and Hebden Bridge. I will ensure that those are sufficient as part of the review we are conducting. The Secretary of State for Transport is conducting a review of all the affected infrastructure to make sure we get back on track. The hon. Lady can rest assured that Elland is definitely on our list.

Oral Answers to Questions

Holly Lynch Excerpts

Thursday 5th November 2015 Commons Chamber

[Rory Stewart]

There are three elements in my hon. Friend’s question. First, I entirely agree that Gloucester is particularly vulnerable, because of its combination of fluvial and tidal flooding. Secondly, there is money in place for Gloucester: £5 million, with a six-year guarantee from the Treasury. Thirdly, I met the chief executive of Severn Trent two days ago. We are always interested in the role that other partners can play in ensuring that we have effective flood protection at a reasonable cost.

[Holly Lynch (Halifax) (Lab)]

3. What progress her Department has made on meeting the UN target of halving food waste by 2030.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Rory Stewart)]

Britain is a leader in addressing the problem of food waste. We have managed to reduce household waste by 15% and retail waste by 7.2%, and the figures for 2014 suggest a further 3.2% reduction, but that will be dealt with mainly through the Courtauld 2025 agreement.

[Holly Lynch]

We know from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s documentary “Hugh’s War on Waste”, which was shown earlier this week, that supermarket practices such as unnecessarily strict cosmetic specifications for products are contributing to the huge amounts of waste in the supply chain. What is the Minister doing to ensure that supermarkets take much more responsibility for reducing food waste in their supply chains?

[Rory Stewart]

The supermarkets and retailers in general are a very important part of the Courtauld agreement. I pay tribute to some of the retailers: Tesco has made progress on bananas, and there has been progress from the Co-op on potatoes with the Marfona range, which reduces potato waste by 30%, but I absolutely agree retailers have to play a larger role in reducing food waste in general.