B

Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Con)

Speaking in the House of Lords on 7 January 2025

Debate

Flooding

Contribution

My Lords, would the Minister like to take this opportunity to renew her commitment to not building on functional flood plains, such as zone B, which she was kind enough to support in an amendment in my name to an earlier piece of legislation, the levelling-up Bill? I add my congratulations to all the emergency services and others and add the drainage boards and declare an interest as an honorary vice-president of the Association of Drainage Authorities. Will the Minister explain how many kilometres of minor watercourses she expects to be dredged and maintained during the course of this year? I recognise the extra funds that the Government have awarded to drainage boards for this purpose. One issue is that we do not currently have a total—totex— budget. As the noble Baroness, Lady Humphries, referred to earlier, the budget is divided between maintenance spending and capital spending, with endless arguments. If there was a total budget such as there is for water companies, which also do some of this work, flood defences and flood maintenance would be in a much better state.

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