Oral Answers to Questions

Simon Burns Excerpts

Thursday 13th February 2014 Commons Chamber

[Dan Rogerson]

The right hon. Lady is a doughty campaigner on the route and proposals for High Speed 2. The issues with ancient woodland are of course of great concern and I have been looking at which areas of ancient woodland might be affected by the route. I would be happy to meet her to discuss that if she would like me to.

[Mr Simon Burns (Chelmsford) (Con)]

6. What estimate his Department has made of the number of properties protected from flooding during the recent floods.

--- Later in debate ---

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

We estimate that to date a total of more than 1.3 million properties have been protected from flooding during the flood events since the beginning of last December.

[Mr Burns]

That answer will bring great satisfaction to those whose houses have been protected as a result of improved flood defences, but does the Minister accept that the critical issue now is to ensure that more houses are given that protection in future because of the terrible events going on in this country at present? What commitment do the Government have to continue the work of improving flood defences to protect people’s homes?

[Dan Rogerson]

My right hon. Friend is absolutely right that, thanks to the efforts of the Environment Agency and all the money that has been invested, many homes have been protected, as I set out. It is crucial that we do more, however, which is why we are investing £2.3 billion in the next spending period and we announced £344 million last week for schemes that will go ahead in the next year. It is also why we are working hard on partnership funding and making the case locally to bring forward schemes that would otherwise not have been funded.