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Search forPitt Review into last summer's flooding identifies almost 100 action points
Wednesday, June 25, 2008, 07:00
By their very nature, Sir Michael Pitt's conclusions, released on the anniversary of the June 25 floods, put forward a range of broad strategic solutions rather than specifically local ones.
But many directly echo the Mail's own 10-point Never Again action plan – aimed at preventing future flooding devastation in East Yorkshire – which was submitted to Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his ministers three months ago.
And Sir Michael believes all of the recommendations in his comprehensive 400-page report are relevant to communities living under the threat of future flooding.
Some of the issues raised through our Never Again campaign are already being addressed.
Yorkshire Water, for example, has recently announced a multi-million pound upgrade of its pumping facilities in Hull, while the city council became the first local authority in the country to include the risk of surface-water flooding in its planning policies for new developments.
Sir Michael, who visited Hull on a number of occasions during the review, said: “There are some tough issues to sort out, but there are solutions – all of them practical, sensible and affordable.
“Every one of the recommendations impacts on the quality of life of people living in flood risk areas .
“The bottom line is this country was not well-prepared for flooding last year. Yes, the circumstances were exceptional but our recommendations are geared up to shaping the national and local response to flooding in the future.
“Most of the flooding came without proper warning. A great deal of the flooding was surface-water flooding, which is harder to forecast and predict.
“A lot of the flooding exposed the weaknesses of critical infrastructure sites such as waste water treatment works, pumping stations, motorways and railways. One of our conclusions is that we can improve the resilience of these sites.”
Another of the report's themes and the focus of several of its recommendations is the role of local councils.
“There is a fundamental change needed in the role and actions of local government,” he said.
“We are arguing for councils to take up a wide range of new responsibilities for flooding, to define flood-management, to identify where the drainage is, who owns it and who should be responsible for it in terms of repair and maintenance.
“Local authorities should also be the lead organisation for flood risk, emergency planning and response.”
Sir Michael Pitt's review into last summer's floods puts forward broad strategic solutions
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