Flooding

Harriet Cross Excerpts

Monday 6th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Emma Hardy]

I thank my hon. Friend and congratulate her constituent who has managed to raise £5,000, which is incredible. I am at heart an optimist and always see the bright side. The silver lining in the clouds has definitely been seeing communities coming together and people working together despite the horrible situations they have been facing. I am working on the issue of creating more internal drainage boards at the moment. I am sorry that I cannot give an exact timeline, but I can tell her I am working on it right now.

[Harriet Cross (Gordon and Buchan) (Con)]

It is widely known that the more impermeable the land—pavements, roads and housing developments, for example—the more likely we are to see flooding. With this in mind, and also bearing in mind the Minister’s response earlier about ensuring that new housing developments are not at risk of flooding, what assessment have the Government made of the downstream impacts of a development and what is happening with flooding further down the valley?

[Emma Hardy]

That is an important question. Without going into this in too much detail, one of the important things when looking at sustainable urban drainage solutions is how they are going to work in communities, because we cannot solve a problem in one area and say we are dealing with flooding there if it creates a problem somewhere else. Part of the calculation that needs to be made if we are to use SUDS in new developments is exactly to make sure that it is not going to impact on or increase the likelihood of flooding somewhere else. Otherwise, the system is not working effectively. It is a really important issue, and I am grateful that the hon. Member has raised it.