"My Lords, the Environment Agency routinely uses technology to improve flood detection and prevention, including enhanced warning systems, drones, and digital tools to support early detection and preparedness. It is expanding the use of remote sensing and real-time monitoring to assess the condition of flood defence assets, strengthening forecasting and …..." Lord Katz - View Speech
"I thank the right reverend Prelate for bringing the actions of Rotherham council to our attention. He is absolutely right that the whole of south Yorkshire has been subject to severe flooding. As he said, sometimes, as in places such as Rotherham, basic and simple solutions are the best.
"The noble Baroness is right to point to the potential for natural flood management to improve the environment in a holistic way while providing sustainable flood defences. That can be through a variety of approaches, including restoring riverbeds, changing the way in which land is managed, as the noble Baroness …..." Lord Katz - View Speech
"I thank my noble friend for raising that interesting example. I will certainly go back and talk with colleagues about how we make sure that we adapt to changing environmental factors. We say that local flood risk management planning should follow this sort of adaptive approach over time, which takes …..." Lord Katz - View Speech
"I thank my noble friend for raising that important report—an example of engaging with communities. Apart from building flood defences in the first place, the most important thing we can do is make communities aware of early warnings to ensure that they can cope when floods occur. The Environment Agency …..." Lord Katz - View Speech
"It is worth pointing out that a fair amount of work has been done, particularly by the Environment Agency, to improve community outreach and engage with the kinds of households that the noble Baroness describes. For instance, more than 1.5 million users are signed up to receive EA flood warnings …..." Lord Katz - View Speech
"I will have to write to the noble Lord with details about our future plans for Flood Re. He is right that it is important that the Environment Agency focuses on outreach, not only to households but to businesses, to help them adapt to changing weather conditions and demographic changes, …..." Lord Katz - View Speech
"The noble Lord is right to quote what we said in our funding strategy from last autumn to assist with flood prevention. To be clear, the new funding policy is designed expressly to unlock additional investment from public, private and charitable sources. The new rules simplify eligibility and prioritisation, so …..." Lord Katz - View Speech
"I remind the noble Lord that interventions are meant to be short and to ask a question; his has gone on for quite a while...." Lord Katz - View Speech