Housing and Planning Bill
Debate between Anne Marie Morris and Rebecca Pow
Rebecca Pow
I know that we are tight for time. I listened with much interest to what the Minister said about sustainable drainage systems, and I urge him to ensure that the best possible use is made of devices to protect people’s land and to manage surface water, regardless of the size of the development. Having witnessed the consequences of the terrible flooding in Taunton Deane in 2013-14, I am conscious that we must harness every tool in the box to deal with flooding. According to the Met Office, an awful lot more water is coming our way, so we have to be ready.
I am also conscious that Taunton Deane, much like other parts of the country, has seen a massive, rapid increase in house building, which I applaud, because we do need it. I fully support the Government’s proactive house building plan, but I call on the Minister to give due consideration to the water run-off from new houses so that that does not add to the flooding risk. Developers are currently encouraged to install SUDS, but they retain the legal right just to connect new properties directly to the sewerage system, which probably makes more economic sense in many cases. Lords amendment 110 has much support, including from water companies, the Institution of Civil Engineers, the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management, and the Adaptation Sub-Committee of the Committee on Climate Change.
In Somerset and elsewhere, we are required to consider a wider catchment approach to how we address water management and flood prevention. The use of the SUDS will inevitably play its part as time goes on. Both the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee and the Environmental Audit Committee are conducting inquiries into flooding and water management. We await their conclusions with interest, and they will no doubt have many useful things to say. We, as a population, will have to look seriously at holding more water on our land to control the rate at which it rushes into rivers and the rest of the water system.
The Minister has spent a lot of time on this important issue and has considered Lords amendment 110 in detail. I listened to his reasons for not including it in the Bill right now, but I would welcome any future deliberations and review. I would be most willing to work with him on the matter to bring forward the best possible outcomes and to ensure that we encourage our house building programme without exacerbating the risk of flooding or causing unnecessary environmental degradation.
