Flood Risk (North-East England)

Tom Blenkinsop Excerpts

Wednesday 4th June 2014 Commons Chamber

[Tom Blenkinsop (Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship this evening, Mr Speaker, for this important debate on flooding and flood risk in the north-east of England, and to speak in the first Adjournment debate of this Session.

Although I appreciate that the issue affects much of the region, I should like to start by highlighting some recent floods in my constituency before commenting on the broader issue. On 6 September, large areas of my constituency were flooded after days of steady rain on waterlogged ground, which channelled large volumes of water into already swollen waterways. That then combined with a high tide, causing vast areas of the coast to be affected by once-in-100-years flood levels.

[Mr Iain Wright (Hartlepool) (Lab)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing an important debate for our region. He mentions the once-in-100-years frequency, but does he accept that such incidents are occurring much more frequently as a result of climate change and other factors, and that the infrastructure is struggling to cope with flash flooding? People in areas of my constituency such as Arkley crescent, the wider West View area of Hartlepool and slightly further afield in Seaton Carew are all being affected by more frequent flash flooding. What else does he think can be done to help people such as my constituents and, no doubt, his?

[Tom Blenkinsop]

My hon. Friend touches on a point that I will come to later—how the flood risk in the north-east and other northern areas is assessed compared with that in other areas of the country, and the funding and protection that exist.

As we would hope, where flood defences were in place in my constituency, they generally reduced the amount of floodwater damage. In the seaside village of Skinningrove, flood defences were installed after the floods in 2000, and damage to property in September was thankfully minimised. However, that was only down to the work of local residents who volunteer as flood wardens, who monitor the river levels and man the floodgates when there is a risk of flooding. Yet Skinningrove did not escape unscathed. A bridge on the main road into the village was undercut by the fast-flowing river, causing a lengthy road closure while the bridge was repaired, much to the detriment of local residents and, particularly, local businesses.

Further upstream in Loftus, the floods affected Handale beck, where large volumes of water struck Gaskell bridge, causing structural damage and its eventual collapse earlier this year and cutting off a small community from the rest of the town. The water surged over the bridge, taking down two substantial sandstone walls, and flowed straight into the garden and home of my constituent, Mrs Himsworth, completely devastating the ground floor of her listed building. It was the second time that Mrs Himsworth’s home had been devastated by flooding since 2000, yet as her home is not in a high-risk area she is unable to secure any funding and has consequently had to pay for her own flood defences.

The bridge is in private ownership, and finding someone to take financial responsibility for it has proved difficult. There are three agencies with stakes in the bridge: Redcar and Cleveland borough council, the Environment Agency and Northumbrian Water. Nearly a year later, there may thankfully be some progress towards the restoration of the bridge, thanks to a generous contribution from Northumbrian Water, which is responsible for a pipe within the bridge. However, that has taken far too long for the residents of Gaskell lane, many of whom are elderly pensioners.

Another town that suffered from floods last September was the Victorian seaside resort of Saltburn-by-the-Sea, where I live.

[Mr Wright]

Nice part of the world.

[Tom Blenkinsop]

A very nice part of the world.

[Mr Wright]

Not as nice as Seaton Carew.

[Tom Blenkinsop]

I would have to differ from my hon. Friend about that.

Saltburn was badly affected by the combination of high tides and swollen rivers. Saltburn Gill expanded, almost filling the entire valley floor, covering car parks, ruining much of the town’s Valley gardens and harming tourist attractions and businesses. Thankfully, the council has now repaired the damage along the sea front and, with the exception of the amusement arcade on the pier, the majority of businesses are trading again in time for the busy summer season.

Elsewhere in East Cleveland, the former mining village of North Skelton was hit, with water cascading down from higher farmland to the south and finding its new course by inundating homes in the terraced streets and the nearby A174 main road. The tragedy there was that many of the families affected were private renters, and relied for building insurance on their landlords’ ability to repair the structural damage. For them, it was not easy to get redress, which has led to casework that I am still pursuing.

Thankfully, for flood prevention in North Skelton the local council and principal landowner are working together on schemes that will involve breaking up the current prairie-like fields with new tree and hedge planting—an effective way of reducing and controlling flash floods and run-off. Such work takes time, however, and over the coming year I feel that affected North Skelton residents will still worry in periods of long and heavy downpours. One consolation would be to put in place effective measures to ensure that private landlords have sound and reliable building insurance—something that would benefit everyone in the long term. Such things cannot be left to the discretion of the market because we are talking about people’s homes where they raise their families.

Redcar and Cleveland council has spent more than £24,000 on council tax relief for people affected by the September 2013 floods, in addition to money spent via social fund grants and loans. After the Prime Minister’s “money is no object” claim I wrote to the Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, the hon. Member for Great Yarmouth (Brandon Lewis), regarding the Government’s highly publicised council tax relief for flood victims, only to be told that my constituents would not qualify as it covered only

“severe weather in December, January and February 2014.”

That seems wholly unfair to me, to local councillors of all parties, and to local residents. The Government are refusing to support local residents by providing centrally funded council tax relief for the sole reason that—in their eyes—those people were flooded three months too early. Such cases prove that the north-east is still at risk from flooding.

Although flooding is a threat in much of England, research by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation in a 2011 paper, “Climate change, justice and vulnerability”, demonstrates that there is a clear north-south divide in terms of socio-spatial flood disadvantage, and that the north-west, north-east, and Yorkshire and the Humber have neighbourhood social flood vulnerabilities that on average are above the English mean. That risk has not been met by Government investment in the north-east. As of January 2014, Government funding for flood defences was forecast to be lower in both nominal and real terms during the current spending period than during the previous spending period, and the Committee on Climate Change has calculated that that represents a real terms cut of around 20%. Although the Government have brought forward money that was already set aside to improve sea defences in Skinningrove, there has been little investment in other more rural areas of the north-east.

Since climate change is expected to increase the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events in the UK, we must have a joined-up, nationwide strategy on flood prevention. The effects of flooding last long after the water has subsided, and as many of my constituents know, the effects can last almost indefinitely causing lasting financial and emotional damage. The Government must act to protect all households from the damaging effects of flooding, not just in urban areas or where there is a high media presence. I urge them to extend the support and emphasis that they gave to areas hit by flooding last winter to places such as East Cleveland that were hit earlier in the year.

Finally, I thank the hard-working and dedicated emergency services, in particular the firefighters of Cleveland fire brigade who responded to around 300 calls in three hours when flooding occurred last September. That included a call from me, as the flat where my wife and I live was flooded. Without the assistance of Cleveland fire brigade we would have been in a fairly sticky situation, given that at midnight that evening I was in my shorts trying to bale out my neighbours in their living room.

[Stephen Pound (Ealing North) (Lab)]

What an image!

[Tom Blenkinsop]

Exactly.

[Mr Iain Wright]

And not a pleasant one.

[Tom Blenkinsop]

Not a pleasant image, no. However, I am sure that MPs from across the north-east can provide examples of where the fire service has helped to reduce damage caused by flooding. Flooding is already a significant problem and is likely to increase in future, yet there is no statutory duty on the fire and rescue service to respond to flooding in England and Wales. I ask the Government to reconsider their decision not to introduce a statutory duty on fire and rescue authorities to respond to flooding as recommended in the Pitt review, and I urge them to ensure that fire authorities are sufficiently resourced to meet such an additional responsibility.