Who ya gonna call? Floodbusters!
MPS are calling for a flooding emergency phone line to end bureaucratic runaround after agencies told residents they cannot take action because it is ‘the wrong type of water’, as Phil Corrigan reports
STAFFORDSHIRE MPS have called for better partnership working to tackle the county’s increasing problems with flooding – including a new emergency phone number for floods.
Theo Clarke, MP for Stafford, says her constituents often face a ‘bureaucratic runaround’ when reporting floods, with some being told that an agency cannot take action because it ‘is the wrong type of water’.
Ms Clarke organised a Westminster Hall debate in Parliament to draw attention to the issue and call for a more co-ordinated response to future problems.
She said the issue was becoming increasingly urgent, due to climate change and more house building, with January of this year bringing ‘some of the very worst flooding in Staffordshire for a century’.
Depending on whether flooding is due to a river bursting its banks, the sewer system backing up, excessive road surface run-off overwhelming storm drains, or some other problem, responsibility for dealing with the issue can lie with the Environment Agency, Severn Trent Water or the highways authority.
And even when the exact nature of the problem has been identified, a lack of co-ordination between the agencies can mean residents are still passed from pillar to post.
Ms Clarke believes the government should make one agency the responsible authority for all flooding in an area. She also suggested the idea of a ‘flood control centre’ for Stafford, with a 24-hour emergency phone number.
She said: “The major problem in Staffordshire is who to call when your house starts to flood.
“I am urging the Government to create an emergency threedigit flood phone number—for example, 555— that everyone in our country knows to call if they are experiencing a flood emergency.
“Tixall Road in Stafford was flooded for nearly a month and no agency sorted it out.
“What was I told when I tried to find help for my constituents? The
agency responsible for the road said it could not deal with it because it ‘wasn’t their water’ as the water had come from a field. That is just one of numerous examples of the complete lack of joined-up thinking in relation to flooding.”
Other Staffordshire and Stokeon-trent MPS attended the debate, giving examples of recent flooding episodes in their own constituencies.
Stoke-on-trent North MP Jonathan Gullis agreed that there had to be better co-ordination between different agencies.
He said: “The canal feeder to the Caldon Canal and the River Trent runs through Norton Green. The river is hardly dredged. The canal feeder is man-made and beset with historical issues and when it rains, both flood. A double hit to the village of Norton Green.
“The river is the responsibility of the Environment Agency, and the canal feeder is the responsibility of Severn Trent Water. Two agencies that, if they co-ordinated their work, could help alleviate the problem that my constituents face in Norton Green when it rains.
“Locally, we suffer from a Victorian drainage network, underfunded and over capacity. Clarity is needed as to which authority, agency or company is responsible for what drainage. Disputes between Severn Trent Water and local councils in Staffordshire over responsibility for drains and ditches take years to resolve, but the actual work needed to alleviate the flooding takes only days to carry out.”
Newcastle MP Aaron Bell said that in Sneyd Avenue, an area blighted by flooding in recent years, hydraulic modelling undertaken by Severn Trent Water had identified water capacity issues.
He said: “As the winter months approach, it is vital that Severn Trent Water and Staffordshire County Council work together to alleviate the significant disruption caused by flooding. They should employ the appropriate technology, such as hydraulic monitoring and CCTV drain inspections.”