While we’ve been enjoying some lovely British sunshine in recent weeks, the impact of last September’s flooding in Mid Bedfordshire is in the front of many minds as we race towards Autumn.
Although the sun may shine now, many residents who were hit hardest by the flooding are still living through the effects of it today. And we must do more to ensure we are better prepared in future. Following the last year’s flooding – just a couple of months after I was elected – I visited affected households and set up an online survey so I could understand what local people thought Government, local authorities and stakeholders like the Environment Agency need to do to improve resilience. Following this survey, I worked with ward councillors, our local authorities, National Highways, Anglian Water and the Environment Agency, and I held a debate in Parliament to raise the issue of flooding in Bedfordshire to ministers.
I know that people feel there’s too much talk in politics, so I’m keen to get things done which is why I’m now bringing a Bill forward in Parliament. In the absence of anything meaningful in Labour’s flagship Planning and Infrastructure Bill to deal with flooding, my Bill – whilst not plugging every hole – will go a long way to the prevention of future flooding, and it has widespread support, including from insurers.
The Planning (Flooding) Bill will ensure that the views of flooding experts are considered during the planning process by making Internal Drainage Boards (IDBs) statutory consultees to planning applications. IDBs can also only be removed as statutory consultees if they are replaced by another suitable body.
And where the guidance from IBDs, the Environment Agency or local flood authorities considers that development would increase flood risk for existing properties, there would be a presumption against development.
This may all seem like common sense – and it certainly does to my constituents – but current laws do not fully protect our communities against the risk of flooding when new developments are built.
I also hear from local people all too often about the poorly maintained drainage systems in their communities. I was shocked to learn that this was a particular problem in Wixams, a New Town less than two decades old. That’s why the Bill I am bringing forward in Parliament will also require statutory guidance to be published on the minimum expected standards for drainage and maintenance in new developments.
And empowers councils to reject future planning applications from developers that have previously failed to deliver or maintain sustainable drainage; an incentive for big box developers to stop cutting corners and continuing to get away high and dry with profits whilst leaving new developments to flood.
Communities in my constituency of Mid Bedfordshire, and across the country, deserve better than the delivery of housing developments that compound the risk of flooding.
The Government likes to talk about blockers and NIMBYs. We are not blockers. We are not NIMBYs. Where our communities have done the right thing and taken the houses that the Government want them to take, many of them now find themselves with a higher flood risk.
When they stand ankle-deep in water in their once dry living rooms and desperately attempt to stop the next bad development making their situation worse, the Prime Minister calls them blockers.
This Bill seeks to improve development, and I hope other MPs will continue to support it as it passes through Parliament.
Why I’m Tabling A New Bill In Parliament To Tackle Flooding
