Navendu Mishra

It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Mrs Hobhouse. I congratulate the hon. Member for Mid Norfolk (George Freeman) on securing this important debate. I am very limited by time, but I want to raise the recent flooding at Meadow Mill in my constituency on new year’s day. I thank the firefighters, police officers and council staff for supporting residents. Thankfully, none of the flats in the mill was flooded, but the electricity and water supply were lost. One of the key points that I want to raise in the limited time that I have is that the Environment Agency needs more funding for flood defences in Stockport. Several residents have contacted me or come to see me. One told me that the repair costs for her car due to the flooding were approximately £320. Another told me that they had to pay more than £1,000 in temporary accommodation costs, which really adds up. The Meadow Mill residents association has been doing a lot of work on those issues, and Martin Doherty MBE has been contacting utility companies to support residents over electricity charges that seem to be inconsistent. Stockport council is Liberal Democrat-run, but I have been working with it and it has been making representations to the Environment Agency and the Government that it needs more funding to support residents. My final point is on insurance costs. Many residents, whether they are tenants or own their property, face significantly higher insurance costs because of flooding. I think that experience will be replicated across the constituencies of MPs in this Chamber, and something needs to be done about it. The flooding is not caused by the residents, but they are facing much higher costs for insurance and to protect themselves. I met the Environment Agency recently, and I thank all its staff, but I do not think that it has a plan for increasing flood defences, particularly in Stockport. I urge the Minister, who I know is hard-working and diligent, to make representations on that point.