Priti 4 Witham

As the Government prepares to hold its enquiry into the recent floods, bare a thought for the distress being endured by the victims of the floods. Those that have lost everything will be badly hit especially if they do not have insurance cover. Many thousands will no doubt be grateful for any support that can be provided, especially by organisations such as the Red Cross whose national appeal is well worth supporting.

Click here for the Red Cross flood appeal

With substantial parts of Britain currently underwater, there is a great deal of news about the flooding crisis and the announcement by the Housing Minister, Yvette Cooper, of a huge £8 billion house building programme. No-one can doubt that there is a need to build more homes – demand has long outstripped supply and there is an affordability crisis in the country. My problem with any new commitment and new money to build homes, is that not enough attention has been given to the rather important area of infrastructure. By all accounts £300 million has been pledged to kick-start infrastructure for this new housing. But if building is taking place in areas where the infrastructure is in a parlous state then someone still has to ‘invest’ in the development of sound local infrastructure. Across the UK, the recent floods have shown that the UK’s infrastructure can no longer cope. Instead of pledging to build more houses, perhaps the government should go back to the drawing broad and take a look at the foundations upon which these houses will be built.

This morning we heard that more than 48,000 homes across Gloucestershire and parts of Herefordshire were left without power after a flooded power station was switched off. The pictures from these areas are devastating. Thousands of people are now without food, water and their homes. This is now an ongoing emergency with public health consequences. So with this reality in mind, I am astonished by the response from our political parties to this crisis. Brown has called for a review into the floods, but this is no-where near enough. A review headed up by a ‘worthy’ figure will provide no comfort to the thousands affected because once the water’s disappear, householders will have months of domestic misery ahead as they deal with insurance companies and the bureaucracy this brings. Those with insurance will in the future face higher premiums – more so if they live on a flood plain, while those without cover will be up against it when it comes to sorting out the damage. The government needs to offer and provide real assistance and assurance to those affected. As a matter of urgency, the provision of food and shelter is the number one priority and the emergency service and volunteer groups are clearly doing all they can in this area. But the government should go one step further so that once the waters have disappeared, pressure should be put on insurers work flat out to help families rebuild their homes and lives. In the era of social responsibility it will also be interesting to see whether insurance firms will assist those without cover or will the government step in to help? As for the Conservative response, well, surely its all about ‘social action’….

Its all well and good for Gordon Brown to say that lessons must be learned from the floods, but it’s a bit late to say so once the damage has been done. To be frank flooding is not a new occurrence in the UK, come to Essex Gordon and I’ll show you the impact of flooding, along with the homes which have been flooded because they were built on flood plains (thanks to house building targets set by your government). Having met with local residents during the week who have experienced flooding, it is pretty clear that this government hasn’t got a clue about this issue or the extent to which flooding is a major issue across UK. And why? Well its partly because no-one is responsible or accountable for co-ordinating anything to do with the issue of flooding. In my view this crisis could become Brown’s mini-Katrina because his response is too little, too late. By saying that the flooding has been an ‘emergency that no-one could have predicted’, will provide zero comfort to those families who are now homeless due to the floods. If Brown wants to come out of this looking like a serious can-do leader of our nation, he needs put a rocket up the various agencies and authorities to ensure that clear lines of responsibility are in place to tackle flooding emergencies. Brown and his Ministers should now muck in and supervise a nationwide clear up. Perhaps the biggest lesson he could learn from this crisis is that if he had invested in building new flood defences while he was Chancellor, he could have helped to prevent the extent of the crisis the county now faces.