The cross-party Environment, Food and Rural Afairs Committee has published the Report of its inquiry into Future Flood and Water Management.

The Report says the Government must act to tackle the twin challenges of protecting over five million properties from flooding and maintaining clean, reliable and affordable water supplies.

Launching the report, Committee Chair, Anne McIntosh MP, said

"Urgent action is needed to ensure we all continue to have access to clean, reliable and affordable water supplies and that our communities are adequately and effectively protected from flooding. Legislation required to implement the Government’s full suite of flood and water management policies must be in place as soon as possible."

Flood management

The MPs are concerned that the Government has cut flood defence funding and will in future require communities to pay a greater contribution towards the defences from which they benefit. However, the committee believes there is no certainty that this funding gap can be filled. The report tells Ministers they must:

• Spell out how the Government will deliver its pledge to focus public money for flood defence on those communities at greatest risk and least able to protect themselves.
• Ensure adequate and stable funding for local authorities and other agencies given new responsibilities under the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 to plan for and respond to flood events.

Anne McIntosh added:

"At a time of budgetary constraints councils must give flood protection work priority since many of them will need to increase the financial contribution they make to key local flood defence projects whilst also fulfilling their new duties to lead local flood work."

The report is calling on the Government to sharpen the regulatory framework for the water industry to ensure it places customers’ views at the heart of a future strategy that will deliver improved affordability and water efficiency. The MPs want Ministers to:

• Clarify the role for social tariffs in helping those who have difficulty paying their water bills while ensuring fairness to all customers.
• Implement a solution that brings down bills for customers in regions, such as South West England, where water charges are at present disproportionately high due to the need for large-scale capital investment in sewage systems. There are several options, including a national social tariff which is weighted to recognise the substantial regional variance in bills.
• Publish a strategy to implement a wider programme of metering and variable tariffs designed to improve water efficiency while protecting those on low incomes from unaffordable price rises.

Responding to the report, the environment minister Richard Benyon said:

 "The reality is that central government cannot foot the entire bill for flood defences. We are consulting on a fairer way of allocating funding for flood defences, and by allowing local and private contributions, we can pool resources and make sure projects that local communities want go ahead, and which otherwise wouldn't have happened at all."