Huge cash injection demanded to combat flooding

Senior officials from the Association of Drainage Authorities (ADA) told MPs last night the £130 million emergency funding for flood maintenance and repair work announced by David Cameron last week is nowhere near enough to bring the nation’s rivers and tidal defences back to the necessary level.

ADA chairman Henry Cator said the east coast of England had come “within inches of being inundated” during the storm surge in early December, and was “only spared by luck” from far greater disaster. He called on Whitehall to prioritise flood defence maintenance and river dredging after decades of under-investment.

“Maintenance is not a luxury,” he told the Commons environment committee. “It is not something that would be ‘nice to do’.

“If you don’t do it, you are in trouble – and we are very nearly in trouble in a huge number of areas throughout the country.

“It’s time the Treasury realised proper money needs to be invested in maintenance if we are to have any hope of protecting ourselves.”

The storm and tidal surge on December 5 flooded large parts of the east coast including scores of properties in Hull, Whitby and Scarborough. More recently, severe river flooding has devastated large parts of the south, with the Environment Agency coming under fire for failing to dredge key watercourses in Somerset.

ADA chief executive Dr Jean Venables made clear the lack of river dredging over many years could cause similar disasters right around the country.

“Although we’re concentrating on Somerset, a lot of other areas are close to being in that situation,” he said. “It’s absolutely important we look at how we recover from the situation we are in.”

Another ADA official, Tony Bradford, painted a stark picture of the state of Britain’s rivers and their ability to carry water away at the speed required.

“The quickest way to reduce flooding in Somerset, and probably in the eastern counties and in Yorkshire, is to get these rivers in A1 condition so they can convey water from A to B as quickly as possible,” he said.

“We are at a crossroads now. The inactivity over the last 20 years on our main rivers has just about come back to haunt us, and we need vast sums of money to get them back into proper order.”

As part of the Government’s scrambled response to the winter’s disastrous flooding, the Prime Minister announced a package of measures including £130m emergency funding to improve repairs and maintenance.

But the ADA officials made clear there is nowhere near enough to bring Britain’s rivers up to scratch.

“It’s not going to be enough locally – a degree of prioritisation has to be made,” Dr Venables said.

“Both the Environment Agency and the Internal Drainage Boards run out of money before they run out of water courses.”

Mr Cator added: “We think there needs to be a drastic adjustment to the amount spent on maintenance. All of us would like to see more money from all quarters.

“We know the Environment Agency budget for maintenance has been cut and cut and cut.”

The row over flood defence spending dominated Prime Minister’s Questions, as Labour leader Ed Miliband accused David Cameron of using “phoney” figures to disguise budget cuts.

The Prime Minister insisted spending on flood defences has increased in cash terms since the coalition came to power.

Miliband stokes climate of fear – Sketch: Page 4