Lack of action on flooding will condemn Yorkshire to a second class region - Mark Casci

The phrase “once in a generation” as applied to weather is now looking unfit for purpose.

We had two severe storms in a fortnight. Across all corners of Yorkshire, homes and businesses have been flooded.

Fishlake, Mytholmroyd, Hebden Bridge, the Dales, Snaith - the list of areas impacted is tragically long as people’s lives and livelihoods are put in grave danger by an infrastructure that is not up to scratch.

However, as the floodwaters recede and the national media resumes fixating on the Westminster bubble an even greater danger rears its head that the calls for better protections to replace the not-fit-for-purpose set-up falls by the wayside.

They were more interested in Boris Johnson’s failure to visit the flood-stricken areas, as he did to South Yorkshire in Nonmember whilst lumbering up for a General Election campaign.

While I sympathise with the view that a visit from the Prime Minister would have demonstrated empathy and caring, myself and my colleagues were far keener on ensuring that the North receives more than a motorcade an a photo opportunity.

However I felt this was a not-to-be missed opportunity to get our message out there.

The Yorkshire Post has a well-researched wish list for the region that, if delivered upon, could help in ensuring the extensive flooding seen time and time again in the region starts to become so frequent.

Specifically, we want to see a ministerial position created that will be charged with overseeing work to arrest flooding and coastal erosion.

We also are calling for the creation of a national infrastructure recovery fund. Such a body could provide local authorities with instant cash boosts that can help start the rebuild process to damaged communities quickly.

And we are calling for all commitments on flood defences made by current and previous Prime Ministers to be enacted in full, with no delay. That includes the millions promised for Leeds which has yet to be delivered.

The city only just survived having extensive flooding by the skin of its teeth in February and one only need look to the positive impact proper defences in Sheffield and York have made to prove why they are needed.

I am aware I am a business journalist and that this is a business platform. You ask why I care so passionately about this and am spouting off here on the subject.

Yorkshire is my home and the prospect of someone losing their home or business to preventable damage from flooding is enough to get my emotions up-and-running.

But there is an economic cost that goes beyond the repair work needed to remedy the damage, construct the defences and dredge the rivers.

As we enter a post-Brexit world, the importance of how the region appears to the world could not be more important.

Yorkshire is home to world class businesses of many sorts. It has some of the most intelligent and innovative business leaders.

However, when it comes to investment from abroad, or anywhere frankly, the fact that so many towns, villages and even cities are imperilled by the elements is going to count against us.

It is for this reason, and so many others, that there be no repeat of the chaos and damage seen in February 2020.

Climate change is happening. Only the most deluded disagree with this.

This means storms like Ciara and Dennis are going to become more frequent and more severe.

If we do not act now then we are condemning parts of the North to a future which is not just uninvestable but quite frankly uninhabitable.