Hebden Bridge Web

Floods: "We need an MP who will stand up for Mytholmroyd, Todmorden and Hebden Bridge"

Wednesday, 18 June 2014

The House of Commons Select Committee has just reported on the winter floods and Labour's Josh Fenton-Glynn has told the HebWeb that the Government isn't facing up to the longterm risk of flooding.

Responding to the EFRA Select Committee report on the Winter floods 2013-2014, Labour's Shadow Environment Secretary Maria Eagle said:

"In February, David Cameron said 'money was no object' when it came to flood defence funding yet today the Select Committee says that the funding the Government describe as 'additional' is actually only re-allocated. David Cameron's 'promise' has predictably proved totally false.

"The Tory-led Government's response to the winter floods was slow and chaotic. Ministers cut the funding Labour provided in government and the Select Committee says they are now unable to deal with the long term flood risk.

"They failed to prepare for the floods, they don't take the threat of climate change seriously and they don't have a coherent strategy to deal with the problem in the future."

Labour's parliamentary candidate for Calder Valley, Josh Fenton-Glynn, has told the HebWeb, "This report exposes the complacent attitude on tackling flooding displayed by the government and our local Tory MP. Once again, the distance between what David Cameron's government says and what it actually does has been shown to be huge. We need an MP who will stand up for Mytholmroyd, Todmorden and Hebden Bridge

"What Calder Valley needs is a government that will actually face up to the long-term risk of flooding and take the action required to deal with it."

Even with the current level of funding the EFRA Select Committee does not believe that this reflects the increased flood risk.

"However, we are concerned that overall funding does not reflect the increased flood risk. The overall response to the winter floods was commendable, but investment in flood prevention is preferable to spending on clean-up, from both an economic and social perspective. Defra's 'top priority' needs to be better reflected in the efforts made to secure increased investment for under-funded areas such as maintenance so that more homes and businesses can be successfully protected." (Read more)