Contributions to the Environmental Audit Committee's 2025 inquiry into flood resilience
- Louis Ramirez
- Apr 1, 2025
- 1 min read
Submission in collaboration with Shrewsbury Quarry Flood Action Group
The following submission is based on:
A questionnaire circulated among flooded Shropshire residents by the Shrewsbury Quarry Flood Action Group
Flooded People UK’s staff’s 40 years of experience supporting flooded communities
Full submission:
Summary:
As the impacts of climate change begin to bite, with once 1/100 year storms becoming regular occurrences, an already faulty system of flood risk management is beginning to fall apart.
UK flooding policy is reactive, piecemeal, disjointed, and underfunded. To respond to the growing crisis of climate-change amplified flooding, a fundamental revision is required.
A new system must be based on standards of protection and resilience. Funding sources must be diversified with risk-creator-pays and benefactor-pays levies.
Response to the committee's report:
Louis Ramirez, director, commented: "this report acknowledges major failings in English flood management and paints a picture of where we need to get. Yet it falls short of recommending a clear pathway getting us there, sending a mixed signal that needs clarifying."
"We enthusiastically support the vision of achieving a Dutch-style strategic system of delivering resilience standards across catchments," he continued. "But we see nothing in the report's recommendations that can deliver this."
Full response:
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