Jul 24 2007
Flooding in Wokingham
At the weekend John Redwood went around his constituency of Wokingham to assess the impact of the recent flooding, which has left houses without electricity, several families in need of re-housing for the next few months, and resulted in the closure of Emmbrook School. Several Councillors have also visited people affected by the floods in their own wards and sent reports to John.
Having witnessed the damage, John Redwood yesterday asked the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to look at why several recent housing developments in his constituency had experienced flooding. In approving these developments, Mr Redwood said, the government and the Environment Agency had failed to insist on the adequate provision of drains and ditches to protect these new home owners, and he asked the Secretary of State to investigate this failure. [See item 1, from Hansard, below].
Mr Redwood will also continue to press the government on why, despite early warnings from the Met Office about the likelihood of a wet summer, in addition to concerns raised by him and others over the past few years about the risks of flooding, neither they nor the Environment Agency appeared at all prepared for what happened. People need to know exactly what the government is going to do in the future to stop this happening again.
From his tour of Wokingham and West Berkshire it was clear that the worst affected areas were entirely predictable low lying roads and homes on land near rivers. The government and its Environment Agency should do more to divert water and put in place suitable barriers near homes and important public infrastructure.
John Redwood has been concerned about flood defence for some time, and has continually warned Ministers about the likely consequences of inadequate maintenance and lack of capacity. On two occasions earlier this month he highlighted the Agency’s unsatisfactory record in maintaining flood defences. [See items 2 and 3 below].
Over the previous few years John Redwood has asked successive ministerial teams to give urgent attention to the need to replace or strengthen the Thames barrier in the immediate future, and to look at the efficacy of coastal defences in general. [See items 4-10 below].
Item 1 [Hansard, 23rd July 2007]:
Mr. John Redwood (Wokingham) (Con): Will the Secretary of State look at why several recent developments of homes in my constituency have been flooded, and will he ask why the Environment Agency did not insist on more adequate drainage and ditches when the developments were being put in place, to protect new owners from that terrible shock?
Hilary Benn: As the right hon. Gentleman will have heard in answer to an earlier question, we have now given the Environment Agency a much stronger position in the process by requiring it to be statutorily consulted when new planning applications come in. We have tightened the planning guidance
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John Redwood has been the Member of Parliament for Wokingham since 1987. First attending Kent College, Canterbury, he graduated from Magdalen College...
Dear John,
Thank you for representing us with regards to the floods of 2007.
I have now had a renewal home insurance notice. My insurance has more than doubled from last year ( 2007 renewal ). The notice refers to inflation as the cause.
My home was flooded last July and we are still not back in our house, and the insurance company have still yet to resolve our claim of July 2007.
Wokingham District council have accepted that they were liable for the flooding in Swallowfield, and additionally hadn’t fulfilled their duty towards the parish by keeping the drains clear.
Thames Water too are in culpable as the Swallowfield pumping station breaks down on key occasions. The occasions are well documented.
The above being fact, bewilders me that the the river Loddon flood plain in the new map has been extended to cover my house, no doubt reducing the value of my property and making it prohibitive to have household insurance. ( 4 bedroomed house - > £2000 pa. )
The cause of this is directly linked to failures by Wokinhgam DC and Thames Water. I feel it is inappropriate that I suffer significant financial penalties whilst WDC and multi-million £ turnover corporations as Thames Water do nothing to put their house in order.
Do you have knowledge of any action group that might have been set up to tackle these problems being experienced by your constituents ?
Can you give me any advice on an approach that might yield benefit.
Thank you as always,
Simon Fixter
Charlton House
Swallowfield Street
Swallowfield
Berkshire RG7 1QX
Reply: Thanks for the clear statement of the flooding problem, which as you say has still not been resolved. I am keeping up the pressure on the public authorities involved, and am critical of the way the householder ends up with all the extra bills. No I do not know of a specific pressure group. Locally some groups of neighbours have got together to increase the pressure we can all exert on ther authorities to do something about their particular problem. That might help for Swallowfield as well.
Dear Mr Redwood,
I think there are now initiatives within the village coordinated via the Parish Council to lobby both Thames Water and WDC.
Like Mr Fixter we are still not back in our home in Swallowfield, and expect to be in temporary accommodation until Christmas 2008 whilst repairs are ongoing, the repairs are running to tens of thousands and may exceed £100,000. On the day of the flooding my vehicle was flooded in the village and was ultimately written off. The cause, two unmaintained ditches.
Your efforts on behalf of constituents is greatly appreciated, the mental as well as the financial toll of these events is very grave indeed.
Yours sincerely,
Mr Lee Atkins
Swallowfield
Reading
Reply: Do let me know what else I can do to help - I am keeping the pressure up on the authorities who have been dilatory or unhelpful.