Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of increasing river dredging to help reduce flooding on agricultural land.

Dredging and clearing channels is an important option for watercourse maintenance, where it is technically and cost effective, does not significantly increase flood risk for others and is environmentally acceptable.

For many locations, there are more effective ways to protect land and communities from floods as part of a catchment-based approach.