Learning lessons from the 2007 floods

Yesterday I attended an event in London on flood mitigation and adaptation where we saw case studies from Gloucester and Lincolnshire County Councils and also heard about the role of Regional Flood Defence Committees. However, the keynote speech came from Sir Michael Pitt who was able to give us a taster of his findings in the Pitt Review - Leaning lessons from the 2007 floods -which will be published in the summer. See the interim report here.

What is absolutely clear to us all is that flood risk is increasing and public concern is rising and these issues need to be addressed. The role of local authorities will be crucial in the co-ordinating role in the future and we will have to be prepared for this. There are 72 interim conclusions in the report and emergency planning and the drainage of new developments will be key factors needing to be carefully considered.

Managing flood risk, new building regulations and control of surface water flooding and drainage were all discussed as important areas which will need careful managing in the future. This has certainly come home to us here in Grove recently where even the rainy weekend just over a week ago, brought flooding into homes in North Drive as reported in the press today. See here.

Another keynote speech yesterday was from Sir John Harman, Chairman of the Environment Agency who talked to us about adapting to climate change. Key messages here were that we need to reduce our vulnerability to the current risks and plan and prepare for the future. The Government, the EA and Local Authorities will have key roles to play, but we all have to work together. This all costs money and what we need is for the government to ensure that resources are targetted where it is needed - the EA is currently underfunded and we cannot expect local authorities to pick up the tab - if we are to undertake more duties, then funding has to follow!