The flooding emergency in northern England is a policy failure not a freak in nature
By Will Bugler
Last week the government declared a national emergency as devastating floods affected parts of Northern England. Communities living on the River Don were particularly badly affected. The speed of the river’s response to a period of very intense rainfall seemingly caught authorities off guard. People were forced to evacuate their homes, businesses were forced to close their doors, and one person lost their life. The tragedy of these floods is compounded by the fact that they were both predicted and preventable. Their impacts represent a failure of policy.
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Despite these repeated warnings, government action on flooding has been piecemeal. According to the government’s official advisers, the Committee on Climate Change there were no areas where the government was preparing properly for climate impacts. This is evident from the reduction in staff numbers working in key departments. In 2013 the number of staff working directly on climate adaptation at Defra was counted in dozens, by 2018 only around five remained. Government support for important services including the UK Climate Impacts Programme, the Environment Agency’s Climate Ready programme and the Regional Climate Change Partnerships was also cut, and reporting on adaptation, mandatory in 2011, has since been made voluntary.
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As implied by the Committee on Climate Change’s report, dealing with flood risk requires a systemic approach in order to be truly effective. After severe flood events in the UK, there are a lot of calls for measures such as flood walls and levees to be constructed and for rivers to be dredged. Treating the symptoms of flooding in this way is unlikely to be effective in the face of climate change.
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The floods on the River Don this year were made a lot worse by poor land management in the Peak District and the upland areas in the Pennines. Over the past decades the areas have seen huge amounts of peat cutting, drainage and heather burning. With nothing to stop it the water now runs very quickly from the hills into stream and river channels. Flooding remains one of the most significant climate risks to the UK. Without significant investment in systemic flood resilience building, events like those experienced by the residents living along the River Don will continue.
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