The Environment Agency’s response to flooding was criticised by a number of MPs in a debate in the House of Commons yesterday to discuss ongoing flooding on the Somerset Levels.

Opening the debate, Ian Liddell-Grainger, Conservative MP for Bridgwater and West Somerset said:

“I have stood in this place and made many similar speeches before. I have criticised the Environment Agency annually because the flooding in our area has become an almost annual crisis—and here we are again, mopping up after the latest deluge, listening to the same lame excuses and hoping that there will finally be some sensible action.….A huge area of Somerset is now drowning under water that should have been prevented from getting to where it is now. What went wrong? Was it climate change or incompetence?”

The MP said that the floods were predictable and predicted but the Environment Agency had “apparently failed to cotton on”, questioning whether at a cost of £1 billion per annum the Agency provided value for money.  Describing the fact that flooded roads which have sunk 12% in Sedgmoor as “unforgiveable negligence” Mr. Liddell-Grainger called for regular dredging to be undertaken by the Agency saying that while the Netherlands had also had similar levels of rainfall over the same period, there were no floods because of regular dredging.

The MP accused the Environment Agency of bearing “huge responsibility for all the problems that have happened” following a policy U-turn to end regular dredging of the Parrett and Tone rivers in Somerset with the Agency instead opting to manage any floods that might result.

Jeremy Browne, the MP for Taunton Deane said he understood that the rivers were operating at only about 60% of their capacity due to silting up with many people on the levels convinced that dredging is the No. 1 action that needs to be taken, with Tessa Munt MP calling for similar action on the Axe and Brue rivers.

Ian Liddell-Grainger also drew attention to pumping problems in summer floods two years ago when the Environment Agency was “attempting to push water into an outlet that was already completely full”  and having great difficulty because many of the pumps being used were more than 40 years old and had not been properly maintained. With regard to the Agency’s policy which states:

“We will continue to maintain defences where there is an economic case to reduce the risk from flooding to people and property.”, he asked what was meant by an economic case and who would decide that.

Commenting on the Environment Agency’s argument that dredging is uneconomic, he flagged up the cost to the local economy as in the region of £10 million.for last year’s floods in  Northmoor and Currymoor alone. The MP also made the point that flooding is now no longer a once-in-100-years event; it is happening every year.

In response, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Brandon Lewis told the House that the lead Government Department —the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs—was responsible for monitoring the situation on the ground, assessing what, if any, Government support is needed in the immediate aftermath, and ensuring that the Government as a whole respond as necessary. He emphasised that throughout the entire period of severe weather the Department did exactly that, including convening daily, often twice-daily, teleconferences of officials, and the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs chaired daily meetings of COBRA.

"Money and responsiblilty should be given to Internal Drainage Boards"

Tessa Munt MP called for money paid by internal drainage boards to the Environment Agency to be given back to the Internal Drainage Boards, together with some responsibility, then contractors with expertise and knowledge of the local area could carry out work to prevent flooding in future. She added that the Environment Agency had been “pretty clear locally” that it could not cope with the situation, meaning radical action was needed which used the expertise which sits in the internal drainage boards, coupled with removal of  responsibility from the Environment Agency.

In response, Brandon Lewis said that the local Environment Agency took action to mobilise pumping appliances in advance. The Agency was also mobilising an additional 20 temporary pumps, increasing its pumping capacity by 150% and making it “probably the single biggest pump mobilisation in the country.”

Mr. Brandon Lewis told MPs that  a local task force had been established, to be funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, local authorities and local environmental groups with expert support from both the Environment Agency and Natural England, to address the long-term future of the Levels.