Post by Steve Gardner on Dec 18, 2007 12:18:51 GMT
Source: The Guardian
Panel urges curbs on building and more cash to confront mounting challenge
Martin Wainwright
Tuesday December 18, 2007
The Guardian
Draconian measures to limit flooding, including bans on tarmac drives and impermeable patios, were accepted in principle by the government yesterday after a report on last summer's disaster ranked the future threat of flooding alongside terrorism or a flu pandemic.
The narrowest of margins prevented a worse catastrophe than the 13 deaths and the 48,000 homes and 7,000 businesses ruined, said an independent panel headed by Sir Michael Pitt, whose 15 key conclusions were approved within hours by Hilary Benn, the environment secretary.
The challenge to flood defences by extreme conditions - including torrential surface run-off after the most prolonged rainfall for 250 years - was also highlighted by a Commons public accounts committee report condemning low budgets and muddled management. The MPs called on the Environment Agency to "bang heads together" or seek new powers to over-rule councils, water companies and others involved in flood prevention.
Pitt, a former council chief executive whose report is the main analysis of the floods commissioned by the government, said that he had found a fundamental change in official attitudes to future risk.
Launching the report in Hull, where more than 1,500 people are still living in caravans after the floods, he said no one doubted that money needed spending, as "flood risk is here to stay. The country must confront the mounting challenge and adapt accordingly, recognising that the process is going take a generation."
Although allocating blame was not part of the panel's remit, Pitt said: "The impact of the floods would have been significantly reduced with stronger local leadership, clearer roles and more effective cooperation."
His report draws up a long-term list of remedies, including a national map of run-off flows, which turned roads into torrents and caused more than half of the 13 deaths. It calls for a ban on new homes in at-risk areas unless they reach a flood resilient standard and the rapid closure of roads in severe weather to avoid the stranding of drivers, as with the 10,000 stuck overnight on the M5 in June.
The report also extends responsibility to ordinary householders, calling on everyone to prepare a "flood kit" - including a torch, radio and first-aid kit. Pitt said the review's staff had been "very surprised" at the number of people in at-risk homes who had done nothing in advance to prevent or delay water coming into their homes.
"Our fundamental purpose is to raise the priority and importance of flood-risk management nationally, locally and at home," he said. "We should be putting it on a par with the risk of terrorism or an influenza pandemic where we already have national frameworks in place.
"Nobody should underestimate how big this event was during the summer, nor the fact that flood risk and events of this sort are here to stay."
The interim report, which will be followed by a final version next summer after further consultation, was welcomed by Benn. He said: "The government agrees with all 15 urgent recommendations, which deal with monitoring flood risk, sharing information and the practicalities of emergency response. We will work with all organisations involved in taking them forward as quickly as possible."
Opposition parties praised the report's urgent tone, although the Liberal Democrat environment spokesman, Chris Huhne, chastised the government for failing to implement many of the proposals after they were made in earlier flood studies. The Conservative MP Laurence Robertson, whose Tewkesbury constituency was inundated and left without tap water for nearly three weeks, questioned the criticism of "unprepared" householders.
"I don't know where Sir Michael's 's coming from on that," he said. "What were people supposed to do? I spoke to people who hadn't been flooded for 40 years. That's not the fault of individuals."
Pitt's second list of 72 interim recommendations will be tested on experts and flood victims during a three-month consultation in the spring. It includes making flood risk search a compulsory requirement in house-buying, and that "householders and business owners should no longer be able to lay impermeable surfaces as of right".
Families still unable to go back to their wrecked homes will meet him and his team in Gloucestershire today, along with emergency service staff, whose surprise at the scale and length of the crisis is detailed in the report. It says that the "second-wave" result of the flooding was significantly worse than predicted, in terms of water cut-offs and power loss.
The disaster would have been worse if Walham electricity-switching station in Gloucestershire or Ulley dam near Rotherham had been overwhelmed, it adds.
"We had a very close shave in both cases," said Pitt, before touring a re-opened primary school in Hull.
The director general of the Association of British Insurers, Stephen Haddrill, said: "We are especially pleased to see Sir Michael endorse our calls for effective coordination, particularly for drainage and dealing with surface water. Insurers are dealing with more than 165,000 claims, have arranged temporary homes for 15,000 people and will eventually pay out over £3bn."
Recommendations
· "Frequent and systematic" checks on groundwater levels; saturation led to flash flooding and run-offs
· Identify areas at risk of surface flooding on "at risk" map of UK
· National review of water rescue skills, after failure to save Michael Barnett, trapped in a Hull drain
· Emergency rest centres to be identified; Cabinet Office to review stockpiles of medicine and food
· Investing in drainage added to next year's water industry pricing review
· Publicity for insurance, which many victims did not have
· National emergency framework to be built, led by Environment Agency
· Warnings ready to go to all phone numbers, including ex-directory
· Council to have staff ready to door-knock areas under immediate threat
· Every household to prepare "flood kit": personal documents, insurance policy, phone numbers, torch, battery radio, mobile, rubber gloves, wet wipes or antibacterial hand gel, first aid kit, blankets, and waterproof containers for possessions
· Everyone should know how to turn off house gas, electricity and water
Panel urges curbs on building and more cash to confront mounting challenge
Martin Wainwright
Tuesday December 18, 2007
The Guardian
Draconian measures to limit flooding, including bans on tarmac drives and impermeable patios, were accepted in principle by the government yesterday after a report on last summer's disaster ranked the future threat of flooding alongside terrorism or a flu pandemic.
The narrowest of margins prevented a worse catastrophe than the 13 deaths and the 48,000 homes and 7,000 businesses ruined, said an independent panel headed by Sir Michael Pitt, whose 15 key conclusions were approved within hours by Hilary Benn, the environment secretary.
The challenge to flood defences by extreme conditions - including torrential surface run-off after the most prolonged rainfall for 250 years - was also highlighted by a Commons public accounts committee report condemning low budgets and muddled management. The MPs called on the Environment Agency to "bang heads together" or seek new powers to over-rule councils, water companies and others involved in flood prevention.
Pitt, a former council chief executive whose report is the main analysis of the floods commissioned by the government, said that he had found a fundamental change in official attitudes to future risk.
Launching the report in Hull, where more than 1,500 people are still living in caravans after the floods, he said no one doubted that money needed spending, as "flood risk is here to stay. The country must confront the mounting challenge and adapt accordingly, recognising that the process is going take a generation."
Although allocating blame was not part of the panel's remit, Pitt said: "The impact of the floods would have been significantly reduced with stronger local leadership, clearer roles and more effective cooperation."
His report draws up a long-term list of remedies, including a national map of run-off flows, which turned roads into torrents and caused more than half of the 13 deaths. It calls for a ban on new homes in at-risk areas unless they reach a flood resilient standard and the rapid closure of roads in severe weather to avoid the stranding of drivers, as with the 10,000 stuck overnight on the M5 in June.
The report also extends responsibility to ordinary householders, calling on everyone to prepare a "flood kit" - including a torch, radio and first-aid kit. Pitt said the review's staff had been "very surprised" at the number of people in at-risk homes who had done nothing in advance to prevent or delay water coming into their homes.
"Our fundamental purpose is to raise the priority and importance of flood-risk management nationally, locally and at home," he said. "We should be putting it on a par with the risk of terrorism or an influenza pandemic where we already have national frameworks in place.
"Nobody should underestimate how big this event was during the summer, nor the fact that flood risk and events of this sort are here to stay."
The interim report, which will be followed by a final version next summer after further consultation, was welcomed by Benn. He said: "The government agrees with all 15 urgent recommendations, which deal with monitoring flood risk, sharing information and the practicalities of emergency response. We will work with all organisations involved in taking them forward as quickly as possible."
Opposition parties praised the report's urgent tone, although the Liberal Democrat environment spokesman, Chris Huhne, chastised the government for failing to implement many of the proposals after they were made in earlier flood studies. The Conservative MP Laurence Robertson, whose Tewkesbury constituency was inundated and left without tap water for nearly three weeks, questioned the criticism of "unprepared" householders.
"I don't know where Sir Michael's 's coming from on that," he said. "What were people supposed to do? I spoke to people who hadn't been flooded for 40 years. That's not the fault of individuals."
Pitt's second list of 72 interim recommendations will be tested on experts and flood victims during a three-month consultation in the spring. It includes making flood risk search a compulsory requirement in house-buying, and that "householders and business owners should no longer be able to lay impermeable surfaces as of right".
Families still unable to go back to their wrecked homes will meet him and his team in Gloucestershire today, along with emergency service staff, whose surprise at the scale and length of the crisis is detailed in the report. It says that the "second-wave" result of the flooding was significantly worse than predicted, in terms of water cut-offs and power loss.
The disaster would have been worse if Walham electricity-switching station in Gloucestershire or Ulley dam near Rotherham had been overwhelmed, it adds.
"We had a very close shave in both cases," said Pitt, before touring a re-opened primary school in Hull.
The director general of the Association of British Insurers, Stephen Haddrill, said: "We are especially pleased to see Sir Michael endorse our calls for effective coordination, particularly for drainage and dealing with surface water. Insurers are dealing with more than 165,000 claims, have arranged temporary homes for 15,000 people and will eventually pay out over £3bn."
Recommendations
· "Frequent and systematic" checks on groundwater levels; saturation led to flash flooding and run-offs
· Identify areas at risk of surface flooding on "at risk" map of UK
· National review of water rescue skills, after failure to save Michael Barnett, trapped in a Hull drain
· Emergency rest centres to be identified; Cabinet Office to review stockpiles of medicine and food
· Investing in drainage added to next year's water industry pricing review
· Publicity for insurance, which many victims did not have
· National emergency framework to be built, led by Environment Agency
· Warnings ready to go to all phone numbers, including ex-directory
· Council to have staff ready to door-knock areas under immediate threat
· Every household to prepare "flood kit": personal documents, insurance policy, phone numbers, torch, battery radio, mobile, rubber gloves, wet wipes or antibacterial hand gel, first aid kit, blankets, and waterproof containers for possessions
· Everyone should know how to turn off house gas, electricity and water