Flooding

Lord Walney Excerpts
Tuesday 5th January 2016

(8 years, 10 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Elizabeth Truss Portrait Elizabeth Truss
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The Somerset Rivers Authority is now established and my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government has agreed a shadow precept. It is now for local people to decide where and when to dredge and how to maintain their watercourses. I want to see more of that across the country. We are developing the Cumbrian floods partnership so that local people can make decisions about what is best for their area.

Lord Walney Portrait John Woodcock (Barrow and Furness) (Lab/Co-op)
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The A590 in Lindal in Furness came close to flooding again during the Christmas storms. Will the Secretary of State beseech the Transport Secretary, who is sat just to her left, urgently to improve the anti-flooding measures on that stretch of this crucial trunk road, which connects my constituency with the M6? If, as we understand it, a particular landowner is holding out, as a result of which a compulsory purchase might be necessary, will she beseech the Transport Secretary to step in and sort it out as soon as possible?

Elizabeth Truss Portrait Elizabeth Truss
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My right hon. Friend the Transport Secretary is very happy to look at the matter.