AREAS HIT BY FLOODING NEED SPECIAL SUPPORT - HUHNE

12.00.00am GMT Wed 4th Jul 2007

The Liberal Democrats have called for special support for areas hard hit by the recent flooding so that repairs can be undertaken quickly to key public buildings and social housing.

Following a visit to Hull, where 17,000 homes have been damaged by flooding, Liberal Democrat Shadow Environment Secretary, Chris Huhne MP, said that the existing Bellwin scheme to help flood-hit areas only provides support for current spending.

He said:

"The sheer scale of the flood damage in Hull is hard for people outside the city to comprehend, with nearly one in five households being affected and 90 of the city's 105 schools.

"The existing compensation scheme does not fund any capital spending, even though in some cases complete reconstruction, of a road section for example, would be most cost effective. Patching up and making do can be a false economy.

"Because the flood water was contaminated with sewage, the damage to the contents of people's homes is enormous and many households are uninsured. The Government will need to be generous with grants and interest-free loans to allow people to replace furniture and re-build their lives.

"It is also clear that these are a new type of flood that the Environment Agency has not planned for, because it is caused by massive rainfall overwhelming drainage and raising the water table. There was no flood warning.

"Nor is there a clear statutory duty on the private water companies to upgrade drainage in line with the increased needs due to climate change. Both the agency and the water companies need to address this problem urgently, as many old drainage systems that carry sewage and storm water could be overwhelmed with rainfall much less than the four inches in one day that struck Hull."