Flood Resilience

Manuela Perteghella Excerpts

Wednesday 28th October 2026 Commons Chamber

[Dr Chowns]

Once again, the hon. Member’s point is that as we face increasing frequency and severity of floods, existing problems are going to become worse, so we need to invest to protect communities against that. Investment early is going to be cheaper than paying the costs in the long run.

[Manuela Perteghella (Stratford-on-Avon) (LD)]

In my constituency, the Shipston Area Flood Action Group has led a natural flood management project, working together with local landowners to slow the flow of the River Stour upstream. Does the hon. Member agree that we need greater investment in natural flood management, so that communities are protected before flooding occurs while also helping to restore nature?

[Dr Chowns]

The hon. Member makes an excellent point that I was about to make myself. Natural flood management has got to be a core element of our response to flood risk. I have met families who have gone through the ordeal of seeing their homes flooded time and again.

I have met farmers who have watched valuable topsoil disappear from fields that they have worked for decades. I have met parents whose children cannot get to school because roads have become impassable. I have met business owners wondering how they will cope when the next storm comes. For all of those people, flood resilience is not an abstract issue; it is about whether they can live, work, study and plan with confidence.