Eustice defends handling of floods crisis
■ Nationwide call to create resilience centre on Humber ■ Facility would be first of its kind in the world
GEORGE EUSTICE has defended the Government’s handling of the floods crisis, as he said farmers could be paid to store water on their land to protect communities.
The new Environment Secretary said there was no need for a public inquiry into flooding, which has hit swathes of the country including Yorkshire – in the wake of Storms Ciara and Dennis.
And in the face of criticism of
Boris Johnson’s failure to visit flood-hit communities, Mr Eustice said the Prime Minister’s presence would not have had made any difference.
In sometimes robust exchanges at the National Farmers’ Union annual conference, he said the Governments’s new approach to funding farming would back efforts to reduce floods.
“Our new, independent agricultural system will give farmers a big part to play, by encouraging land management that supports flood management – releasing the pressure on lowland and urban areas by keeping water in the soil in upland catchments to slow the flow of water through the landscape,” he said.
“Protecting homes and communities from flooding is a public good and is one of the objectives set out in our Agriculture Bill.”
A UNITED call for the Government to invest £13m in a National Flood Resilience Centre in the Humber region has been made ahead of the Budget next month.
National and local politicians, as well as academics, have come together to make the case for Ark, a project led by the University of Hull and Humberside Fire and Rescue Service, which supporters say will be the first centre of its kind anywhere in the world.
The centre would give a space for emergency services to undertake simulated training in urban and rural flooding, taking advantage of a 130-yard long street scene and water rapids course.
And it is also envisioned as a world-leading research centre.
Professor Dan Parsons, Director of the Energy and Environment Institute at the University of Hull, said recent flooding in the region showed more than ever why the project was vital. He said: “The impacts of climate change are being seen right now. The devastating impact of storms Ciara and Dennis over recent weeks highlight the need for greater understanding, and more effective responses and recovery to severe flood events.
“Ark will prove to be a gamechanger in how we tackle and recover from these events, which are only going to get worse as we suffer the consequences of climate change.”
A joint bid has been put together from the unversity and fire service, backed by North Lincolnshire Council, and ahead of the Budget on March 11 efforts have been intensified to turn support
into confirmation that the upfront capital funding required – £13m from Government – will be made available.
Andrew Percy, MP for Brigg, Goole and the Isle of Axholme, raised the matter directly with the new Environment Secretary George Eustice in the House of Commons on Monday.
And Mr Eustice admitted yesterday: “With climate change we are getting more frequent extreme weather events.”
He said: “This has been an incredibly wet winter, and we’ve had a wet winter and then two consecutive storms, Ciara and Dennis, and there’s nowhere for the water to go.”
He said the Government had spent £2.5bn on flood defences.