Flood Protection (West Kent)

John Stanley Excerpts

Thursday 11th September 2014 Commons Chamber

[Sir John Stanley (Tonbridge and Malling) (Con)]

As the Member for Tonbridge and Malling, I am fortunate to represent one of the most beautiful, if not the most beautiful, constituencies within 30 miles of London. Environmentally, my constituency has one drawback, however, and that is its topography. It falls between the southern slopes of the north downs and goes on further south, going gradually downhill across the northern slope of the River Medway’s valley down to the River Medway. It therefore creates a natural flood risk area.

That has been known and has been a feature of the area over a long period. Indeed, I have seen many photographs in black and white, taken between the wars, of men suitably attired in bowler hats and cloth caps propelling themselves in rowing boats down Tonbridge High street when it was flooded. Since then, there have been significant improvements, the most significant of which took place shortly after I was elected in 1974, when the Southern Water Authority introduced the River Medway (Flood Relief) Act 1976. That created the Leigh flood storage barrier, upstream of Tonbridge. The barrier was created in association with an extensive flood storage area on which flood water was captured on agricultural land during periods of intense flooding and then, hopefully, held there and released in a controlled way down the River Medway.

Subsequently, under the previous Labour Government, there was significant expenditure on strengthening the Tonbridge flood defence wall. In addition, we had a new flood defence scheme to protect the village of East Peckham. Sadly, those measures did not prove enough to withstand the exceptional rainfall that occurred, at great intensity and over a short period, last Christmas. It had serious consequences in my constituency.

Individual constituents found themselves having to evacuate their homes and then return to clear up the awful mess that occurs when flood water penetrates. They have had to go through a long period of trying to dry out, repair and internally reconstruct their homes, replacing all the goods destroyed by the flood water. As if that were not enough, they have also had to face a double financial whammy: the terms of their flood insurance, if such insurance was still obtainable, were moved very severely against them and coupled with that was significant depreciation in the capital value of many properties.

The excellent leader of Tonbridge and Malling borough council, Councillor Nicolas Heslop, has just written to me with the latest position, which is that

“a total of 290 homes and 146 businesses were flooded in the Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council area alone over Christmas and the New Year. Even today, nearly 9 months after the flood event, 59 families in that area remain unable to return to their homes due to the huge scale of repair works.”

[Tracey Crouch (Chatham and Aylesford) (Con)]

I congratulate my right hon. Friend on securing this Adjournment debate. May I place on record my tribute to Tonbridge and Malling borough council, which does great work in defending many of my constituents, many of whom were once his constituents before boundary changes were made? Does he agree that while we continue to see increased climate change, it is important that local government, national Government and regional government assess and reflect on the threat to people’s houses posed by rising flood waters?

[Sir John Stanley]

I entirely agree with my hon. Friend. One point that all those concerned with the climate change debates need to recognise, whether they are fully supportive or among the sceptics, is that one characteristic of climate change, which is happening now, is greater transition between one extreme and another. That has serious implications with respect to rainfall and she has rightly drawn attention to that.

May I make it clear to the Minister that the figures from the leader of Tonbridge and Malling borough council that I cited relate only to part of my constituency, because another part of it is covered by the Sevenoaks district council area?

Against that background, what should the Government be doing as regards west Kent—in particular, if I may say so, my area of west Kent? I want to put three representations to the Minister. First, the present situation in trying to find out who is responsible for maintenance and repair of a great number of surface water channels is totally inadequate and insufficient. In my constituency, and similarly, I suspect, in a great many others across England, the flooding was created not merely by the River Medway bursting its banks but by all the water sources that flow towards the Medway—other watercourses that are not main rivers, such as streams, culverts and irrigation ditches. In many cases, the clearance of those watercourses and the maintenance of their banks and beds has been seriously deficient and inadequate.

Another issue relates to sub-surface water problems adding to flooding when highway drainage is insufficient and water bubbles out from the drainage system on to the surface. Even more serious is the problem of the foul water drainage system—the sewerage system—not being adequately maintained or having adequate capacity. I am afraid that in some roads in Tonbridge human excrement was forced up on to the surface as a result of the inadequacy of the sewerage drainage system.

In some areas, the responsibility for maintenance is very clear. For what are described as main rivers—the Medway is a main river—the responsibility lies clearly with the Environment Agency. For highway drainage, it lies clearly with the highways authority. For sewerage drainage, it lies clearly with the water companies. Beyond that, however, there is a totally unsatisfactory impenetrability as to where ownership and, in particular, maintenance responsibilities lie. For many watercourses, they may fall between the Environment Agency, the water company, the internal drainage board, a public landowner and a private landowner. When we, as MPs, try to find out on behalf of our constituents who has the responsibility for clearance, maintenance and repair at a given spot, it is incredibly difficult, if not impossible.

My proposal for the Minister is radical, but my goodness it is needed. I accept that it would need to be implemented over a period, but it would be an immense step forward in terms of transparency and accountability. We need to create a surface water equivalent of the land register so that people in flood risk areas—property owners, whether domestic or business, their professional advisers, and, indeed, Members of Parliament—could see at a glance, easily and electronically, and possibly with access to large-scale downloadable maps, where the responsibility for maintenance and repair lies at a particular location. I put it to the Minister that that is a critical and urgent necessity for flood risk areas.

The second point I want to put to the Minister relates to flood insurance. I welcome the Government’s establishment of the Flood Re insurance scheme. It is a very good step forward for domestic householders in flood risk areas who find that their properties are non-insurable against flood risk. I put it to the Minister, however, that the scheme needs to be extended to premises that provide very important community facilities. Such premises may be in the ownership of charities, provident societies or clubs.

I shall give the Minister two illustrations from my constituency. The first is the Tonbridge indoor bowls club, whose membership runs into hundreds and which provides a very important focal point of enjoyment and social and community cohesion for a significant group of people. The other is the Tonbridge Juddians rugby football club, which is a very important facility for the people and area of Tonbridge.

Both premises were seriously flooded over Christmas and the new year, and the clubs have been put in a parlous position as a result of the insurance companies questioning whether they can continue to insure the premises. If the serious flooding that both clubs experienced is repeated, the repair of the buildings and the future of the clubs will undoubtedly be called into question, because the repairs may not be financeable from the clubs’ own resources. I therefore strongly urge the Government to consider this relatively limited extension of the Flood Re insurance scheme.

My third and most important representation to the Minister relates to the Leigh flood storage barrier and the related storage area. It has undoubtedly been a great help since it was brought into operation in the early 1980s, but as the events of last Christmas demonstrated, its capacity is clearly seriously insufficient. That was acknowledged by Environment Agency officials at our public meeting with them in Tonbridge in February when, in response to our questions as to why, notwithstanding the existence of the barrier, such serious flooding occurred in Tonbridge and further downstream, they recounted precisely what had happened over the 72 hours before Christmas day. They recounted how the intense rainfall led to the flood storage area filling up very rapidly and how the water rose higher and higher until it reached the legal maximum height allowed against the flood storage barrier.

In those circumstances, when the whole of the barrier’s structural integrity was threatened, which would have had catastrophic consequences, the Environment Agency had no alternative but to let a much greater volume of water out through the barrier than it wished. The consequences were very severe, with serious flooding all the way downstream from the barrier—at Hildenborough, Tonbridge, Hadlow, East Peckham, Wateringbury and Yalding, where there was a lot of national publicity about the scale of the flooding, which is in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Maidstone and The Weald (Mrs Grant).

Demonstrably, therefore, the capacity of the Leigh flood storage barrier is insufficient. The Environment Agency has costed increasing its capacity by a third at £11 million. The construction of the increased capacity is not a particularly sophisticated project, and the scheme only awaits Government approval. The former Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for North Shropshire (Mr Paterson), wrote to me in July to say that the Government would announce in the autumn statement the flood protection projects that will be implemented in the next six years, from 2015 to 2021. As we now know, the autumn statement will be made on 3 December. That date will be of very great importance to me and many of my constituents, as we wait to hear the Government’s decision.

As I hope the Minister will know, I wrote on 31 July to the present Secretary of State. I will conclude by reading what I said at the end of that letter:

“I am writing to urge you in the strongest terms to include the scheme to increase the capacity of the Leigh Flood Storage Area in the Government’s flood protection projects to be given the go-ahead at the time of the Autumn Statement.

I cannot state too strongly how important it is to a significant number of my constituents that the Government gives its approval to the Leigh Flood Storage Area increased capacity scheme this Autumn.”

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Dan Rogerson)]

I congratulate my right hon. Friend the Member for Tonbridge and Malling (Sir John Stanley) on securing this debate, in which he has given us the benefit of his long-standing knowledge of this catchment and of the effects of its management during the time he has represented the area.

To have one’s home or business flooded is a devastating experience. I know that all of us in the House would want to extend our sympathy to all those who have previously been affected. I recognise the specific concerns that have been expressed in respect of west Kent.

I first want to thank the many people who have worked tirelessly in response to recent and previous flooding events, including those in west Kent, both during the flooding and through the process of recovery. As my right hon. Friend has pointed out, the process of recovery can be long and painful for those affected. Those who have participated in such efforts include the staff of the fire and rescue, ambulance, police and other services, as well as local authorities, the Environment Agency, the voluntary sector, the armed forces in various locations and, of course, the local communities that have been affected.

Last winter saw record levels of rainfall and the stormiest period for at least 20 years. The unprecedented weather events caused the flooding across the United Kingdom. We experienced a prolonged period of very unsettled weather over the winter. It was the wettest January in England and Wales since 1766. Central and south-east England received over 250% of the average rainfall figure. Met Office statistics suggest that it was one of the most exceptional periods for winter rainfall in south England in at least 248 years. Added to that, tidal surges caused by low pressure, strong winds and high tides led to record sea levels along many parts of the east coast. High spring tides brought coastal flooding to parts of the south and west coasts. River, surface water and groundwater flooding occurred in many areas.

Although it is not yet possible to attribute a single instance of extreme weather to climate change, last winter’s storminess is in line with what we expect to see under climate change scenarios. We expect an increase in the frequency and severity of such weather events. We already prioritise the need to adapt to our changing climate across Government and beyond, but we will look to learn any lessons from the recent extreme weather events.

In west Kent, homes and businesses in Tonbridge, Yalding, East Peckham and other smaller communities are at risk of flooding from the River Medway and its tributaries, as my right hon. Friend set out. There have been nine flood events in west Kent since 1960, with three in 2000 and the latest in the winter of 2013-14, when 847 homes were flooded, including those that he spoke about. The Leigh barrier was full on Christmas day in 2013 and the level was the highest that had been seen for some time. The reservoir level reached 1 metre below the emergency spillway. However, no problems were reported and the barrier operated as designed.

The Middle Medway strategy was updated in 2010 and sets out ways in which the risk could be managed. The options included enlarging the capacity of the Leigh flood storage area, which would improve the standard of protection to approximately 1,300 homes and businesses in Tonbridge. The strategy also considered a second flood storage area on the River Beult, a tributary of the Medway, which would reduce the risk of flooding to approximately 2,000 homes and businesses in Yalding and the surrounding communities. Those two flood storage areas are being planned as one scheme. Together they will reduce the risk of flooding to 3,302 properties, 2,060 of which are at significant risk. The scheme will safeguard existing economic development and there is the potential to improve 31 km of the River Beult site of special scientific interest.

All the local Members are aware of the scheme and its potential benefits, and have indicated their support, as my right hon. Friend set out in his letter to the Secretary of State. Meetings are taking place at all levels with beneficiary local authorities to seek support and funding. Since the floods in the winter of 2013-14, the Environment Agency has received a written commitment from Kent county council to match flood defence grant in aid to ensure that the scheme can proceed. The scheme is currently 50% funded by Kent county council and further contributions are being sought. Scheme development, including land negotiations, is expected to take three years. The completion of the scheme is anticipated in 2021-22.

The flooding events of last winter impacted on the homes, businesses and farms of people across the country. There was significant damage to sea and flood defences. The latest figures suggest that more than 8,300 homes were flooded and more than 4,300 commercial properties affected across England. However, the existing flood defences and improvements to the way in which we respond to incidents meant we protected about 1.4 million properties and more than 2,500 sq km of farmland from flooding.

We consider carefully what lessons can be learned from the various incidents that we experience. The many organisations that were involved in responding to the exceptional weather, including the Government, our agencies and all the other services, will look at those lessons in detail. While the response was generally effective, the Government acknowledged at the time that some aspects of the response and recovery could be improved. In response to the extreme weather, we made an extra £270 million available to repair, restore and maintain the most critical flood defences. Repair work at many of those sites started as soon as the weather conditions allowed and has continued throughout the summer. I visited some of the sites this week and was very impressed by the work that is being carried out.

At the local level, we are improving the way in which we engage with local communities to increase the awareness of river maintenance projects and reduce flood risk. Over the autumn, meetings are being held in every part of the country to explain the Environment Agency’s plans, which will give people an opportunity to contribute to and influence local maintenance programmes for the year ahead. We have great respect for local knowledge. My right hon. Friend mentioned the expertise of internal drainage boards and how they have worked with the Environment Agency on local catchments. We respect that expertise and want to take advantage of such information.

My right hon. Friend raised a number of specific questions that I would like to address. First, he spoke about the complicated issue of the ownership and maintenance of the different watercourses, drains and assets, which varies across the country.

The Flood and Water Management Act 2010 is clear about who has responsibility for what, and the right hon. Gentleman set out some examples of main rivers, highway drainage, and so on. He went further to suggest that there should be an official register of every asset, and we must ensure that any work we carry out in that area prioritises spending on the sorts of things that we want and that will minimise and address flood risk. I know that the agency is carrying out work into the sorts of questions he raised, so that we can make clearer for some of the smaller landowners or those who might have questions, where those responsibilities lie.

[Sir John Stanley]

Does the Minister recognise that in the internal maintenance of streams, watercourses and associated river banks, and the clearance of rubbish and things that get dumped in those watercourses, although those water flows may appear small, they build up and contribute to a flooding problem and can exacerbate a main river flooding problem substantially? Therefore, being able to identify who is responsible for the maintenance of a particular stretch of stream or watercourse—something that is virtually impossible now—is critical.

[Dan Rogerson]

I understand my right hon. Friend’s point. I was seeking to respond to his specific proposal about some sort of formal register, and to reassure him that work is being undertaken in that field. He is right to say that maintenance is important, but he will appreciate that the responsibilities for that maintenance lie with various agencies and with private landowners who have their own responsibilities and should be aware of them. We have published information to make clear to those in riparian ownership what their responsibilities are, and once the agency has completed its work into what might be helpful, that will be shared in the usual way. I would be happy to write to my right hon. Friend to update him on that specific area as soon as it is beneficial to do so.

My right hon. Friend’s second point was on flood insurance and some aspects of the Government’s new Flood Re scheme. I welcome his support for that scheme. The scheme will make a big difference to many homeowners across the country and those in all types of property who are able to get support and access to contents insurance that they would otherwise not be able to receive. He set out the problems for valued community assets such as sports clubs and associations in his constituency. I appreciate that this is a difficult period for such associations. Money was made available to help with the provision of sports grounds, and support was given through Government grants as part of the flood packages that were made available for extreme weather events.

On flood insurance, the Flood Re scheme is funded by a levy on domestic insurance bills. It would not be appropriate for us to take that levy from everyone else’s domestic insurance and use it to subsidise other forms of more commercial policy. However, colleagues across the Government will continue discussions with the Association of British Insurers, representatives of business organisations and other sectors, and consider the problems with more commercial policies. The advice from the ABI is that commercial policies are more flexible, and that brokers can help in accessing the cover that is available. However, we have asked for evidence from organisations such as the Federation of Small Businesses, the CBI, and others, on the need for a scheme to help with those commercial policies. Flood Re is not really the model for that, as it is focused on the domestic insurance market, where it will make a big difference. However, I hear my right hon. Friend’s contribution to the debate on what might be beneficial and help other forms of organisation.

My right hon. Friend referred to the Leigh flood storage barrier and aspirations for investment. I have sought to explain that the current assessment from the Environment Agency set out what might be available in grant in aid. I welcome the work that the agency, Kent county council and other local partners, including MPs, who are playing a leading role, are doing in putting together the package, which will make a difference by protecting even more properties to a higher degree, given the risk of more such extreme weather events in future.

I thank my right hon. Friend for setting out those specific local constituency issues. To reassure him, the Government will spend more than £3.2 billion in this Parliament on flood and erosion risk management. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has successfully secured a protected, long-term, six-year capital settlement to improve flood management infrastructure. We will make record investment in capital improvement projects of more than £2.3 billion in a six-year period, with £370 million in 2015-16 and the same in real terms each year, rising to more than £400 million in 2020-21. The investment will reduce the risk of flooding for a further 300,000 households between April 2015 and March 2021. That is on top of the 165,000 that have been protected during the current spending round.

As my right hon. Friend has set out, we will publish the pipeline for flood defence improvement projects with the 2014 autumn statement. That will help to secure at least 10% efficiencies, which will be reinvested in more projects, and which will leverage at least 15% contributions from other sources. That partnership approach allows us to reach further with that significant investment to deliver more schemes than we would be able to deliver otherwise.

Despite the exceptional weather conditions last winter, the impacts were significantly less than from previous events of similar magnitude. For example, existing flood defences protected 1.4 million properties. That reinforces the importance of continuing our investment in flood defence schemes and in forecasting capability. We will never be able to stop flooding entirely. However, we have acted on the lessons learned last winter and put in place numerous measures to improve the response capability of both the Government and other front-line organisations. The process will continue, with further improvements set to be rolled out over the coming months.

I again express my sympathy to those who were and who continue to be affected by the severe weather. I am pleased with Kent county council’s commitment to match that flood defence grant in aid funding to ensure that the local schemes proceed. I look forward to hearing how the schemes develop to the benefit of the constituents of west Kent.

Question put and agreed to.