Herbert: Government fails on flood measures
17 June 2009
Two years after the floods of summer 2007 the Government has failed to implement key flood defence measures, and new figures show that one in four flood defence projects have faced delays.
Conservative Party analysis shows that around half of the Pitt recommendations have not been implemented or have been subject to Government delay, while new figures show that over a third of major flood defence projects since 2004-05 have overrun. Since the flooding of 2007, 19 projects – over a quarter – have overrun, with overspends amounting to almost £14 million.
The Government’s failure to act on flooding is an embarrassment to Ministers who tomorrow (Thursday 18 June) will announce delayed climate change impact projections which are expected to highlight the growing risk of flooding.
Commenting on the findings, Shadow Environment Secretary, Nick Herbert said:
“Gordon Brown promised that the Government would learn lessons from the 2007 floods but as usual his actions have failed to live up to his words. Labour has let down people whose homes and livelihoods were devastated and those who are at risk.
“While Ministers prepare to reveal the scale of the challenges caused by climate change, a year after they promised to do so, their own response to flooding, which is one of the key risks, is found wanting.”