Asked by: George Hollingbery (Conservative - Meon Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which towns and cities in England and Wales have been most affected by flooding caused by urban surface run-off following heavy rain events in the last five years.
Answered by Dan Rogerson
The Environment Agency publishes maps of locations at risk of flooding from surface water. The maps can be interrogated by place name or postcode.
The maps can be found at:
http://watermaps.environment-agency.gov.uk/wiyby/wiyby.aspx?topic=ufmfsw#x=357865&y=355121&scale=1
Asked by: George Hollingbery (Conservative - Meon Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the (a) time taken and (b) cost of dredging operations undertaken by the Environment Agency was in the (i) 2012-13 and (ii) 2013-14 financial years in each operational area; and what the expected benefits of such operations were.
Answered by Dan Rogerson
Dredging is not identified as a separate category within the Environment Agency’s budget allocations or work recording systems, as it is often carried out at the same time as other channel activities. It is included within the broader category of ‘conveyance’ on which the Environment Agency spent around £45 million and £32 million in total in 2012/13 and 2013/14 respectively. The Environment Agency carries out conveyance work, including dredging, where it cost effectively reduces flood risk to people and property. The Environment Agency estimate that, on average, conveyance work provides about £7 of reduced flood damages for every pound spent. Dredging can provide other benefits, such as land drainage and navigation.
The funding spent on conveyance in each operational Environment Agency area was:
2012/13 | 2013/14 | |
Environment Agency Area | Total Allocated (£M) | Total Allocated (£M) |
Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire | 1.03 | 0.56 |
Cumbria and Lancashire | 3.77 | 1.75 |
Derbyshire Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire | 2.31 | 2.27 |
Devon and Cornwall | 2.77 | 1.31 |
Essex Norfolk and Suffolk | 3.96 | 1.07 |
Greater Manchester Merseyside and Cheshire | 4.41 | 4.47 |
Hertfordshire and North London | 4.48 | 3.40 |
Kent and South London | 3.95 | 3.12 |
Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire | 3.26 | 2.86 |
Northumberland Durham and Tees | 1.11 | 1.73 |
Shropshire Herefordshire Worcestershire and Gloucestershire | 1.07 | 1.39 |
Solent and South Downs | 2.01 | 2.10 |
Staffordshire Warwickshire and West Midlands | 1.27 | 1.42 |
Wessex | 2.01 | 1.38 |
West Thames | 4.12 | 1.60 |
Yorkshire | 3.43 | 1.82 |
Grand Total | 44.95 | 32.27 |
We do not hold information on the time it took for each of the dredging operations to be undertaken.
Asked by: George Hollingbery (Conservative - Meon Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, on how many occasions the Environment Agency has (a) issued warnings and (b) brought prosecutions as a result of dredging or channel maintenance activities in each of the last three years; on how many occasions referrals were made to the police following such activities; and which rivers were affected in each such case.
Answered by Dan Rogerson
The Environment Agency has a range of enforcement and sanction options that it can employ against those undertaking dredging or channel maintenance works incorrectly.
Environment Agency officers do issue warnings and, where appropriate, make referrals to the police. However, the Environment Agency does not hold statistics on this centrally.
Asked by: George Hollingbery (Conservative - Meon Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate she has made of the comparative costs of (a) connecting new minor developments to surface water main drainage and (b) utilising sustainable drainage systems for such developments in the next five years.
Answered by Dan Rogerson
Defra Research & Development project WT1505 provides estimates of the comparative costs of sustainable drainage (SuDS) versus conventional drainage (to Building Regulations) for a minor development as follows:
Small site | Capital (construction) costs | Maintenance costs (per annum) | ||
SuDS (£) | Conventional | SuDS (£) | Conventional (£) | |
Cost estimate (SuDS: “normal” permeability) | 44,000 | 59,200 | 248 | 188 |
These estimates relate to what the research classed as “normal” permeability.
Using SuDS on sites with different permeability levels could incur higher or lower construction and maintenance costs. However, under the Government’s approach there is a presumption that conventional approaches to drainage can be used where construction costs would otherwise be higher.
Asked by: George Hollingbery (Conservative - Meon Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what reports she has received on the Irish government's views on a total ban on commercial fishing for sea bass.
Answered by George Eustice
I met the Irish Minister in the margins of the European Union Agriculture and Fisheries Council of 15-16 December to discuss key fisheries items on the Council agenda including management of sea bass stocks.
Under longstanding Irish national measures to protect bass stocks their commercial fishing vessels are not permitted to land bass for sale, which means a degree of discarding of bass by-catch from mixed fishing activity will occur. I have not, however, seen the Bass Discards report published by the Irish Bass Group.
Asked by: George Hollingbery (Conservative - Meon Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has received the report Bass Discards published by the Irish Bass Group; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by George Eustice
I met the Irish Minister in the margins of the European Union Agriculture and Fisheries Council of 15-16 December to discuss key fisheries items on the Council agenda including management of sea bass stocks.
Under longstanding Irish national measures to protect bass stocks their commercial fishing vessels are not permitted to land bass for sale, which means a degree of discarding of bass by-catch from mixed fishing activity will occur. I have not, however, seen the Bass Discards report published by the Irish Bass Group.
Asked by: George Hollingbery (Conservative - Meon Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what information her Department holds on levels of by-catch of sea bass in other fisheries in Irish waters in the last three years.
Answered by George Eustice
I met the Irish Minister in the margins of the European Union Agriculture and Fisheries Council of 15-16 December to discuss key fisheries items on the Council agenda including management of sea bass stocks.
Under longstanding Irish national measures to protect bass stocks their commercial fishing vessels are not permitted to land bass for sale, which means a degree of discarding of bass by-catch from mixed fishing activity will occur. I have not, however, seen the Bass Discards report published by the Irish Bass Group.
Asked by: George Hollingbery (Conservative - Meon Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what reports she has received on the Irish government's policy for the management of sea bass stocks in their territorial waters.
Answered by George Eustice
I met the Irish Minister in the margins of the European Union Agriculture and Fisheries Council of 15-16 December to discuss key fisheries items on the Council agenda including management of sea bass stocks.
Under longstanding Irish national measures to protect bass stocks their commercial fishing vessels are not permitted to land bass for sale, which means a degree of discarding of bass by-catch from mixed fishing activity will occur. I have not, however, seen the Bass Discards report published by the Irish Bass Group.
Asked by: George Hollingbery (Conservative - Meon Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with her Irish counterparts on the management of sea bass stocks.
Answered by George Eustice
I met the Irish Minister in the margins of the European Union Agriculture and Fisheries Council of 15-16 December to discuss key fisheries items on the Council agenda including management of sea bass stocks.
Under longstanding Irish national measures to protect bass stocks their commercial fishing vessels are not permitted to land bass for sale, which means a degree of discarding of bass by-catch from mixed fishing activity will occur. I have not, however, seen the Bass Discards report published by the Irish Bass Group.
Asked by: George Hollingbery (Conservative - Meon Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with representatives of French recreational sea bass anglers on the management of sea bass stocks.
Answered by George Eustice
The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has had no recent discussions with representatives of the French recreational sea bass anglers on the management of sea bass stock.