Act now over flooding insurance – The Yorkshire Post says

People whose homes were ruined had been sold insurance cover which “specifically excluded flood risk”, while the inquiry states that there is a duty on landlords in high-risk areas to provide occupiers with details of insurance cover at the outset of tenancies.

These – and other proposals – are common sense measures that need to be implemented as quickly as possible rather than Defra ministers procrastinating all winter to little purpose. After all, there’s no point commissioning such studies if there’s little intention of enacting the findings.

And, in case Ministers need reminding, time is not on their side. Recent rain has left homes and businesses across Yorkshire counting the cost of the first floods of this winter.

There’s also anger that the Yorkshire-wide flooding summit was downgraded in status when a region-wide approach is essential – many of the problems being experienced in York at present as the River Ouse overflows its banks actually emanate from the Yorkshire Dales and the need for measures to better control the flow of water through catchment areas.

And until George Eustice, the Defra Secretary, recognises this, and starts honouring past promises, this region will remain at unnecessary risk because of the failure of successive governments to recognise that this issue is – for many people – both an emergency and a living nightmare.

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