Flooding
Debate between Lord Pickles and Christopher Pincher(10 years, 9 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
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Mr Pickles
My hon. Friend makes a firm point, but these storms have been so dramatic, widespread and all-encompassing that the coalition Government’s resolve is that we are determined not to flunk the decisions and make the mistakes of the past.
Christopher Pincher (Tamworth) (Con)
The River Mease in my constituency has regularly flooded near Elford, Haunton and Harlaston, partly because the Environment Agency, with other agencies, has refused to allow farmers to clear and manage their watercourses. May I echo others by asking my right hon. Friend to encourage the practitioners of conventional orthodoxy to pay close attention to the concerns and advice of farmers, who are as expert at managing their fields and watercourses as anyone in the EA?
Mr Pickles
We have looked to farmers and those in similar professions to help us out during this whole process and their local knowledge has often made the difference. As I have said from the Dispatch Box, my right hon. Friend the Environment Secretary believes in that principle passionately, and I believe that good management is operated, if only by acting as an agency for the agency.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Lord Pickles and Christopher Pincher
Mr Pickles
I kind of understand that it has never been a glad morning since the hon. Gentleman lost his position as housing chairman at Hammersmith. Frankly, abusing somebody from the safety of this Chamber does him no credit at all.
Christopher Pincher (Tamworth) (Con)
18. What change in band D council tax he expects (a) on average in local authorities in England and (b) in Tamworth borough between 2010-11 and 2011-12.
The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Mr Eric Pickles)
Average band D council tax for all local authorities in England, including Tamworth, is unchanged between 2010-11 and 2011-12.
Christopher Pincher
I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for that answer. By sharing back-office services with Lichfield district council and by bearing down on furniture and other equipment costs, Tamworth borough council has managed to keep council tax frozen, reduce its spending and ensure that it is doing a good job. Will my right hon. Friend please commend the Conservative-controlled council, and its retiring value-for-money chief executive David Weatherley, for the work that they have done?
Mr Pickles
Of course my hon. Friend has much to be proud of in Tamworth council. It clearly cares about front-line services and is not prepared, as some Labour councils have been, to use the poor as a battering ram against the Government for base political motives.