MPs on a government committee are calling for an overhaul of flood management in England. They want to see a change in the role played by the Environment Agency and for farmland to be used to take floodwaters to tackle the rising risk to towns and villages from the effects of anthropogenic climate change.

Ministers on the EFRA Committee published their report on flood prevention on Wednesday, after widespread flooding caused misery and destruction across Northern England at the beginning of the year, and the government faced criticism for its handling of the floods, which came so soon after devastating flooding in the South-West two years previously.

Commenting on the report’s release, Tiverton MP Neil Parish, chair of the EFRA Committee which oversees the work of the environment department said, "Some five million people in England are at risk of flooding. Winter 2015-16 broke rainfall records. Storms Desmond, Eva and Frank disrupted communities across northern parts of the UK, with Desmond alone costing the UK more than £5 billion.  We propose a radical alternative to the Government's National Flood Resilience Review's limited solutions to the current fragmented, inefficient and ineffective flood risk management arrangements.

“Our proposals will deliver a far more holistic approach to flooding and water supply management, looking at catchments as a whole. Flood management must include much wider use of natural measures such as leaky dams, tree planting and improved soil management. And some areas of farmland should be used to store flood water.”

MPs want a National Floods Commissioner

Although the government’s response to both the Somerset floods and flooding in Northern England last winter was to highlight the sheer magnitude of rainfall, and describe both situations as ‘hundred year’ rainfall events, climate change predictions suggest that shifting rainfall patterns mean the UK faces a much higher risk of such devastating floods was changes continue. The EFRA Committee’s recommendations include the appointment of a new National Floods Commissioner responsible for flood management in England. The Commissioner would work out a flood management strategy and priorities for reducing the risks from flooding with the government, and then be in charge of delivering on these.

The EFRA Committee MPs want to see this happen via:

• New Regional Flood and Coastal Boards coordinating regional delivery of national plans, in partnership with local stakeholders.;
• A new English Rivers and Coastal Authority, taking on national flood risk management roles currently the responsibility of the Environment Agency.

On the subject of funding, Committee Chair Neil Parish MP added, "Our proposed model would streamline roles and pool expertise to allow bodies to deliver their unique roles. Funding would be firmly linked to outcomes: the Commissioner would hold the new English Rivers and Coastal Authority to account on whether it spends its budgets efficiently - whether by directly undertaking work or by commissioning projects from catchment partnerships or Internal Drainage Boards. New Regional Boards would enable a close link between national plans and local aims."

Parish continued, "Building Regulations must be tightened up to help flood proof our properties if a voluntary code is not agreed by the end of this year.  Developers who flout planning rules in high flood risk areas must also be penalised.”

The committee recommended that:

• Developers who fail to comply with planning requirements are made liable for the costs of associated flooding;
• Water companies be made statutory consultees on planning applications, and the right to connect surface water to a sewerage system should be removed;
• The Government should develop by the end of 2017 a grant scheme for small businesses unable to secure affordable insurance to install resilience measures; and
• The Environment Agency and Met Office should develop clearer methods of communicating flood risk by the end of the year. (They noted that Current descriptions of a '1 in x year' flood risk are confusing).

Reacting to the report’s release on Wednesday, the NFU said it would like to play “An active role” in investigating whether a new English Rivers and Coastal Authority would be best placed to oversee the management of flood risk management.
 
Minette Batters, who gave evidence to the committee as part of the inquiry, commented, “We fully endorse the bold suggestions by the committee to overhaul the governance and delivery of flood risk management. This is something our members have been calling for.
 
“We support the committee’s findings that greater funding must become available for flood risk management. This must be supported with longer-term, transparent projections on how this is spent to encourage partnership funding.
 
“The NFU recognises that natural flood management is one of a package of measures available to increase the resilience of the country to future flood events. Any scheme must work for both tenants and landowners. The report fails to mention the need for independent, credible advice to enable farmers to get involved with such schemes.”
 
However, she said that if the government puts in place plants to allow some farmland to flood in order to protect communities downstream, a system of payment or incentives must be worked out. She continued, “Put simply, if rural businesses are to take actions to increase the resilience of urban communities and businesses from flooding, then suitable incentives and support must be in place.
 
“These incentives must truly value the financial impacts of flooding on some of the country’s most productive agricultural land, the costs of recovery and recognise the cost savings and flood mitigation benefits these actions are providing to others in the catchment.”