Flooding

Happy new year to everybody in the House. I would like to update the House on the flooding situation in England, and I start by extending my heartfelt sympathy to all the people and businesses affected. Having your home or place of work flooded at any time is a horrendous experience, but it is particularly dreadful at a time of hope and celebration for individuals and communities, and I hope that those affected will be able to rebuild in the days ahead.

The latest set of flood events come in what has already been a challenging autumn and winter storm season. A combination of heavy rain, snow and high winds has affected England since 30 December, with the worst rain arriving on 1 January. Many new year’s eve celebrations were cancelled, and people in the north-west and central England woke up in the new year to find rivers at record levels, and roads, car parks, businesses and, unfortunately, dozens of homes flooded. Last night saw further heavy rain and flooding, affecting transport infrastructure and other services. The Environment Agency’s areas of most concern today are focused in the midlands, Warwickshire, Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire. In Leicestershire, the fire and rescue service has declared a major incident.

There remains extensive floodwater in rivers and other bodies of water, and a lot of the ground is saturated. The news and social media have shown the flooding of fields and our transport infrastructure, and the impact that water has on our communities. As hon. and right hon. Members will appreciate, this is an ongoing and dynamic situation, but I wanted to come here and provide the latest and most detailed updates possible on what is happening and how we are responding.

On new year’s eve, the Met Office issued rainfall warnings across most of England, including an amber rain warning for large areas of the north-west, and 164 flood warnings and 154 flood alerts were issued by the Environment Agency between new year’s eve and new year’s day. During that period, rain fell across large parts of England; the worst impacted areas were in the north-west, including Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and parts of Yorkshire. The highest-ever levels on the River Mersey were recorded. Environment Agency teams operated flood basins at Catterall, Garstang and Croston in Lancashire, and at Lilford, Sale and Didsbury in Greater Manchester.

Cheshire was a specific area of concern. A major incident was declared, with over 100 families in the Warrington area needing evacuation. A large section of the Bridgewater canal’s embankment collapsed, with water draining on to farmland and inundating a waste water treatment works owned by United Utilities. The owner of the canal, Peel Holdings, took emergency action to stop the flow of water and, although the treatment works were inaccessible for a time, United Utilities has assured us that the plant is back up and running. A number of evacuations were needed, even where properties were not flooded, including for 400 residents of the Britannia hotel in Didsbury.

Although some of the heavy rain had passed by 2 January, subsequent cold weather impacted much of the same areas, hampering recovery efforts and adding further misery for those whose homes had flooded. Environment Agency staff continued their work across the country and brought in mutual aid from unaffected areas to help efforts in the worst-hit areas. They were also operating defences, supporting emergency response partners in managing live incidents, and continuing to issue flood warnings to warn and advise communities at risk.

Late yesterday evening there was further heavy rainfall across parts of England, leading to a combination of river and surface water flooding. The Environment Agency is continuing to respond in affected areas, including Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Birmingham, Nuneaton, Loughborough and the Rivers Trent, Avon and Idle in the midlands. The Environment Agency reports that at least 350 properties have flooded and more than 21,000 properties have been protected since new year’s eve. Over the next 24 to 36 hours, as water moves to lower reaches and slower-responding catchments, there is likely to be some localised flooding across multiple smaller areas.

Climate change will inevitably lead to more severe weather of the kind we have seen this weekend, but I reassure the House that flooding is a personal priority for me and a top-five priority for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. This Government inherited flood defences in the worst condition on record, following years of under-investment. Due to the impacts of inflation, an ageing asset base and the previous Government making no additional funding available to repair storm damage, flood defence integrity is at its lowest level since 2009-10, with approximately 60,000 properties less well protected than if flood defences were at optimal condition. That is why we are investing £2.4 billion over the next two years to build and maintain flood defences.

We have set up a new flood resilience taskforce to ensure better co-ordination between central Government and frontline agencies on the ground and throughout the country. The taskforce brings together organisations including the Association of Drainage Authorities, the National Farmers Union, local resilience forums and emergency responders. The taskforce is key to strengthening resilience in the face of floods, and it met for the first time in September and will meet later this month. We have also provided £60 million to help farmers affected by the unprecedented flooding last winter, and an additional £50 million will be distributed to internal drainage boards to manage water levels to protect the environment and agriculture.

To make the most of our flood funding, we will refresh our approach to funding flood defences, including through a review of the existing flood funding formula to ensure that the challenges facing businesses and rural and coastal communities are taken into account in the delivery of flood protection. We will consult on this new approach in the new year, and I will inform all Members when the consultation goes live. We aim to bring in the new approach from April 2026.

The Environment Agency’s community and field teams are out today to assess and report on the impacts of the last 24 hours. I am sure the whole House will join me in thanking the emergency services, the local authorities, the Environment Agency and the volunteers for their work in keeping communities, properties and businesses safe.

I also recognise the work done by many local MPs—including Jo Platt, the MP for Leigh and Atherton—and their constituents. Residents of Lilford, in Leigh, have been impacted by flooding twice in recent years, which is proof that resilience measures and investment need to be reassessed constantly, and we as a Government are committed to supporting residents to do that. I know that many more MPs wanted to be here but, because of the flooding, are out supporting their constituents. I thank them all, and I specifically mention James Naish in Rushcliffe, who is out supporting constituents right now.

I held a call on Friday to update MPs, and I am grateful that the shadow Minister was able to join. I will continue to communicate with Members as they raise issues. Flooding is such an important issue, and I will work tirelessly to make our communities more resilient. I commend this statement to the House.

I remind Members that it is protocol to reference Members of Parliament by their constituency, not by their name. I call the shadow Minister.

I thank the Minister for advance sight of her statement. I put on the record my gratitude to the Minister and her whole team for hosting a constructive and helpful cross-party meeting on Friday, together with officials from DEFRA, the Environment Agency, the Met Office and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

On behalf of His Majesty’s Opposition, I pay tribute to the emergency services, local authorities and the Environment Agency for their efforts, over the challenging festive period and the ongoing start of the working year, to help people quickly, often in dangerous circumstances. I thank members of the public, volunteer groups and our amazing farmers, who have once again stepped in to help their neighbours and local communities in difficult times.

The current flooding, snow and rain have had, and continue to have, hugely detrimental impacts across the United Kingdom. Today, roads are closed, many schools have been unable to reopen on what should have been the first day of term, rail services have been suspended, and airports have experienced extreme delays. Furthermore, as the Minister said, as a result of the extreme weather Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service has declared a major incident across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. Our thoughts are with all those whose homes and businesses have been damaged, and with all those who continue to be affected.

Many of those people will be distressed, angry and completely exhausted as they begin the new year with the process of restoring and rebuilding their homes and businesses. I sound a bit like a broken record, but I reiterate that we must not underestimate the mental health impacts of flooding on communities, in respect of both the anxiety of being flooded and the trauma when flooding hits. It is essential that practical support is provided as quickly as possible and remains in place after the waters have subsided and the blue lights have departed. Will the Minister update us on the action the Government are taking to get schools open as soon as possible? What steps are her Department taking to ensure that insurance claims can be processed as quickly as possible, so that those affected can return to their homes as soon as they can?

I will try to answer as many of the hon. Gentleman’s questions as I can. I share his concern about the impact of flooding on people’s mental health, which cannot be exaggerated. Someone losing their home, or seeing it damaged, and having to move out over the winter has a devastating impact on them. I agree that farmers have done a great job in supporting communities at risk of flooding.

On Flood Re, we do not currently have plans to extend the scope; however, we regularly review all policies. If any hon. Member wants to contact me with specific suggestions on Flood Re, I am open to receiving them.

On the different pockets of funding that the previous Government announced, we will look at how the flood funding formula works as a whole. I mentioned the review of the formula, and I will let the hon. Gentleman know as soon as it goes live so that he can join in the consultation.

We will hopefully be able to announce the schemes that are being funded by next month. I know that people have been impatient to receive that information. We have worked as quickly as we can. There is a formula for when Bellwin is activated—a local authority has to hit a certain level of expenditure. We have been really pleased that money from the farming recovery fund has already arrived in farmers’ bank accounts. We have been getting that money out the door to the people who need it the most.

I call Tim Roca, member of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee.

I join both Front-Benchers in paying tribute to the communities, volunteers and neighbours who helped each other with the floods over recent days. Communities affected in my part of the world, particularly in Poynton and Bollington, all pulled together. The A555 road runs through a number of constituencies, and poor engineering has been raised several times as a reason why it floods, affecting local residents. Will the Minister join me in speaking with the Department for Transport and local authorities to try to get to the bottom of why it repeatedly ends up failing our residents?

I thank my hon. Friend for his work to support his community at this difficult time. If I can be of assistance in talking to the Department for Transport, of course I will be.

I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.

Extreme weather events are becoming more frequent. New Environment Agency modelling shows that one in four properties in England, including an additional 39,000 homes in the south-west, could be at risk of flooding by 2050.

Like many across Glastonbury and Somerton, I watch this happen in real time. Residents are on high alert, they are anxious and their mental health is suffering. Knole is a small hamlet between Langport and Somerton that previously never flooded, but last winter nine homes flooded every month. With just 40 houses in the hamlet, such incidents have a huge impact on the local community. One affected resident told me they had to watch the ingress of water through every wall in their house. Another said they were unable to return home until mid-summer after last year’s winter flooding. Their experiences and those of many residents across Somerset, and those set out in the national flood risk assessment, show that heavier rainfall and rising sea levels already threaten 2.4 million properties, so will the Minister commit to ensuring that agencies such as Natural England and the Environment Agency are properly funded to deal with flooding and future flooding?

The hon. Lady is right to point out the impact on people’s mental health. I urge her to invite communities that experience repeated flooding to look at the Build Back Better scheme. They could be able to access an extra £10,000 to make their homes more resilient to flooding. As I said, this is something that I care deeply about, as does the Department, which is why we are investing £2.4 billion in delivering, improving and maintaining flood defences.

Mr Wilson of Blackstope Lane in Retford contacted me this morning, worried that water was once again coming close to his property. He has been flooded out many times, but today I thank the Minister for the work of the Environment Agency; staff were on site with their pumps from the early hours of this morning. They tell me that the clearance work on local culverts has made a difference and the water has been kept at bay. Mr Wilson’s hope is that that will continue.

I share my hon. Friend’s thanks to the Environment Agency. It does an incredible job and was out there working new year’s eve and new year’s day—not celebrating like many of us, but out helping and supporting. I am pleased to hear that positive story from her constituency.

The people of Spelthorne have been holding their breath during this flood season. Obviously, prevention is better than cure. Can the Minister update us on the River Thames scheme and on when a decision about whether it will go ahead and when will be taken?

I just mentioned in response to the shadow Minister that we should be able to announce which schemes have been successful by next month at the latest. If the hon. Gentleman writes to me with more information, I can give him a more detailed response on the scheme he mentions, but I recognise how important many of the schemes are to so many people.

I have been personally affected by flooding. In 1985, our family home was flooded when the River Caldew in Carlisle burst its banks. I can testify, as we have already heard, to the terror and powerlessness that people feel when their home is invaded by water. Although over the past few weeks we have escaped flooding in Carlisle, tomorrow marks 20 years since Carlisle was flooded and three residents, Margaret Threlkeld, Margaret Porter and Michael Scott, lost their lives. At that point, the Labour Government commissioned and completed flood defences, but they proved insufficient to hold back the River Eden in 2015, and the city was flooded again. Flood defences were commissioned but not completed by the last Government. Does the Minister agree that it is unacceptable that the residents of Carlisle have been left unprotected as a result of the last Government’s inaction?

Hearing the news that anybody has lost their life in a flood event is truly devastating, and my sympathies are with the family and loved ones of those victims. My hon. Friend is right to point out the importance of delivering on the promise to build flood defences and to highlight that poor maintenance of flood defences puts an additional 60,000 homes at risk of flooding. She has already proven herself to be a fantastic champion by getting hold of me at every available opportunity to advocate for her constituency, and long may she continue to do so.