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UK floods: Environment experts say damage caused could have been prevented

 
Deluge: Surrey firefighters wade through the floodwater in Staines
Members of the Surrey Fire and Rescue Service, as they help make adjustments to a high volume pump (HVP) to remove water from a housing estate in Staines-upon-Thames. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Sunday February 16, 2014. Firefighter Clifford Co
Staff|Agency
21 February 2014

Environmental experts have said the damage caused by recent floods could have been prevented if the correct water management processes had been used.

The group, representing 15 organisations, wrote an open letter to Prime Minister David Cameron urging him to hold a conference bringing together experts and politicians to introduce measures to prevent a repeat of the current crisis.

The call came as shadow chancellor Ed Balls claimed an incoming Labour government would make investment in flood defence schemes a priority.

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Mr Balls accused the coalition Government of "short-termist salami-slicing" of budgets for flood defences, and said that 300 "shovel-ready" schemes were shelved last year because of lack of funding.

The open letter, also published in the Telegraph, set out technical measures which could cut the risk of future floods, including the use of forestry and land management to hold back water in the upper reaches of rivers as well as dredging to ease problems in the lower reaches.

The experts said that sustainable drainage systems should be fitted on existing and new buildings and that buildings and land that cannot be properly protected should be made resilient to withstand flooding. All new housing on flood plains should be resilient when built, they said.

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"While we are pleased to hear that the Prime Minister will provide leadership and funding, it is essential that government actions are based on best practice developed over many years," said the letter.

"Water management techniques could have helped prevent the effect of flooding on villages, towns and over surrounding land seen recently. Emergency measures are in order for the immediate crisis. But in the long term, the management of water requires a clear strategy."

The letter came a day after the Met Office confirmed that the UK has suffered its wettest winter in records dating back more than a century.

Figures for December 1 to February 19 show that the UK has had 486.8mm of rain, making it the wettest winter in records dating back to 1910, beating the previous record set in 1995 of 485.1mm.

Across southern and central England, the risk of flooding is receding as river levels fall, including along the Thames and Severn, the Environment Agency said.

But properties in areas including Windsor and Maidenhead, Surrey, Buckinghamshire, Wokingham and West Berkshire could remain flooded for some time.

And with more unsettled weather on the way, the risk of flooding will be slow to disappear, the Environment Agency warned.

Floods in pictures

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There are 70 flood warnings, and 119 less serious flood alerts currently in place across England and Wales. Groundwater is continuing to rise, with continuing flooding in parts of Greater London, Kent, Hampshire, Wiltshire and Dorset.

Mr Balls said that a review carried out for Labour by Olympic supremo Sir John Armitt had identified the construction of flood defences which can cope with the potential effects of climate change as "a national priority".

Sir John will soon publish draft legislation to create an independent National Infrastructure Commission to identify the UK's long-term infrastructure needs and hold governments of all political colours to account for delivering them.

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Mr Balls said: "Our zero-based review of public spending - a root-and-branch review of every pound spent by government from the bottom up - is clear that we must eliminate waste and inefficiencies, but also prioritise preventative spending that can save money in the long term.

"There can be few better examples than investment in flood defences."

Spending on defences was boosted after the 2007 floods, but the coalition Government then cut it by 17% in real terms in 2010, said Mr Balls.