Bellwin scheme needs to react within days and weeks, not months, says Stunell

10 July 2007

Lib Dem Andrew Stunell urges the government to offer emergency financial aid to the crisis areas quickly and to consider flood prevention more in detail

In response to a statement made by Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Hazel Blears, Lib Dem Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Andrew Stunell not only expressed his sympathy for the many families who have been affected and the businesses that face disaster as a result of the flooding but also thanked the emergency services, local councils and the voluntary sector involved.

Outlining the Lib Dem stance on the Bellwin scheme for emergency financial assistance Mr Stunell said:

“We welcome the extension of the Bellwin scheme, but will the Secretary of State confirm that there is to be no threshold on claims made under the scheme by local authorities? Will she also say more about the exceptional circumstances in which capital claims might be considered? As the right hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull Mr. Prescott made clear, some of the damage is significant and, in some cases, it will be more cost-effective to demolish and rebuild than to clean out and refurbish-one course of action involves capital, and the other revenue.”

“Clearly, if the reconstruction process is to represent value for money, the Bellwin scheme should reflect that fact; it should not be a difficult case that has to be argued. Those decisions need to be made within days and weeks, not months. The plan of action for Hull, for instance, which has many schools out of action and 4,000 damaged council houses, must be developed quickly.”

“In the medium term, we must consider the resources available for assessment, as loss assessors from the insurance industry seem to be in short supply. There is perhaps a capacity problem in the building industry, too. Will the Secretary of State undertake closely to monitor those issues and to ensure that, if necessary, resources are drafted into the affected areas to maintain steady progress? She herself has said that it is important that the effort should not be relaxed once the media circus has gone. Previous disasters overseas have shown that that is exactly what happens. Those apparently trivial points about capacity are often at the heart of the difficulties that people face in resolving such issues.”

Mr Stunell further asked the Secretary of State to give special consideration to the pleas made by local authorities such as Hull for additional help and support in dealing with the crisis.

Mr Stunell sought assurance on two points. Firstly, he urged the government to consider building new homes on floodplains carefully. Secondly, Mr Stunell asked for assurance that funding of flood prevention work would be made available at the earliest practical moment.

Outlining the current situation in his constituency, Paul Holmes, Lib Dem Shadow Minister for Housing said:

“Three rivers flooded in Chesterfield - the Rother, the Hipper and the Whitting. Between them, they closed three of the six main roads into town, and affected 60 businesses and up to 1,000 houses. That they flooded is no surprise, because they have a track record going back well over a century.”

With regards to funding of preventive works in these areas, Mr Holmes said:

“Prevention, of course, is better than cure and cleaning up afterwards. The defensive works on the River Rother are planned to start in 2011 and the feasibility study for the River Hipper is drawn up but with no date attached to it. Will the Minister assure me that she will be lobbying her colleagues in government to make sure that money for these planned preventive works are brought forward, otherwise we will be back in a few years, going through the same story?”

Lib Dem Shadow Environment Secretary Chris Huhne said:

“It is clearly not just maintenance that requires good co-ordination. The Environment Agency is responsible for fluvial and coastal flooding, but floods are increasingly to do with drainage problems. Will the Secretary of State review the responsibility for flood prevention - including the responsibility that appears to rest on local authorities and that which rests on, for example, the privatised water companies - to ensure that drainage systems are adequate and that Ofwat, the industry regulator, allows the companies where necessary to proceed with investment, in order to ensure that there is not an enormous discrepancy between the capacity of a drainage system in one part of the country and another?”

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Applicability: this item refers to England. Due to devolution, detailed policy may be different in other areas of the UK.