No defence over insurance delay

Ministers and flooding failures

ONE YEAR after the floods in Fishlake and Doncaster came to define the Government’s complacency towards victims, just what will it take for Ministers to provide families and businesses with the protection – and reassurance – they desire?

Having initially declared, erroneously, that these floods were ‘ not a national emergency’, Boris Johnson then sanctioned, following pressure by this newspaper and others, a Yorkshirewide flooding summit that was then delayed by months before being downgraded in status to just South Yorkshire when it did finally occur earlier this month.

And Covid- 19 is, frankly, no excuse for the prevailing lack of urgency when one of the few certainties, in these desperately uncertain times, is that homes will be flooded this winter – and families left without insurance – because of Ministerial inaction.

Take the issue of insurance – and its affordability – in areas prone to flooding. George

Eustice, appointed Environment Secretary just days before Storm Ciara struck in February, did, in fairness, sanction the socalled Blanc Review in April to look at this issue and particularly the experiences of property owners in Fishlake.

Furthermore, the original launch statement by Defra promised an “assessment of main implications” by July and completion of the final report “by September”.

Perhaps it was misguided to assume that it was September 2020 – and not September 2021 – but time is already passing, water levels are rising and there’s still little evidence that Mr Eustice, or Flooding Minister Rebecca Pow, are matching well- meaning words with decisive action.

Even if a framework is agreed now, there’s little chance of it being in place this winter because policymaking does not move at the speed of fast- flowing and rapidly rising rivers, hence why Ministers will have so few political defences if the very worst happens – again.