Barrier to action

Ever since Noah was instructed to build the Ark, the destructive nature of flooding and the need to have effective warning systems in place have been well understood. However, how well have the government, the insurance industry and environment agencies stood up to the challenges created by flooding and have we moved quickly enough in the wake of the major UK floods over the last decade?

Last year saw the UK endure some of the worst flooding in recorded history and many affected homeowners and businesses are still working and living in temporary premises as their own buildings dry out. At the last count in February 2008, The Association of British Insurers said that a total of 180,000 claims had been made on the back of the flooding, with an estimated total cost of £3bn. Over £1bn had already been paid out by February and at that time 60% of the domestic claims had been settled in full.

Told repeatedly

When flooding carries this sort of cost and disrupts our personal and professional lives for months, if not years, it is imperative that we get a handle on the issues at stake and come up with effective, durable and immediate solutions, yet is that not what the industry has been saying for years?

In the autumn of 2000 there were severe and numerous floods across the UK that cost a total of £1bn. At the time, Environment Minister Elliot Morley said that the response to these floods had been a marked improvement over that seen during the Easter floods two years earlier, although he felt that there was still room for improvement.

The Environment Agency also felt that things could have been done better and detailed its findings in a report called Lessons Learned - Autumn 2000 Floods. The agency pinpointed four areas to focus on for the future: public confusion and information; flood warnings; risk assessment; and contingency planning and future investment needs.

During 2001, there were numerous reports that hit the headlines, while in March of that year Morley conceded that a huge amount of work was required on the UK's flood defences as the National Audit Office released a report in which it stated that 43% of the existing flood defences in the UK were not up to scratch.

By November 2001, the Institution of Civil Engineers had claimed that annual flood protection spending would need to double from £400m to £800m. Again, Morley found himself accepting that serious change was needed; he was quoted by the BBC as saying: "I accept, in relation to demands for the future, further resources will have to be allocated."

Given all of this, one could be forgiven for suffering a little deja vu at the sight of the reports released by the EA and the ABI in December 2007 on the back of last year's deluge: respectively, they are entitled Review of 2007 Summer Floods and Summer Floods 2007: Learning the Lessons.

Leadership required

Sir John Harman, chairman at the EA, writes in the foreword of the agency's report: "We need the help of government to make strategic changes in how flood risk is managed, and a long term strategy for investment in the context of a changing climate. We need a clear co-ordinating framework to deal with flood risk from surface water drains and sewers, which were the source of flooding for two-thirds of homes this summer. The providers of critical public services, including electricity and water companies, need to take their role in protecting their services from the consequences of flooding seriously."

If senior political figures had conceded already in 2001 that extra investment was required and that significant work was needed to improve the UK's flood defences to put them into a state of effective readiness, should we not have been better prepared to face the rain that fell last year?

Even once the afterglow of the floods in 2000 had subsided and the immediate swell of reports and calls to action had fallen in number, there was still a lot of research being done into the problems that wetter and wilder conditions would create in the UK as our weather becomes more extreme and unpredictable.

In 2004, the Office of Science and Technology Foresight Programme issued a series of policy recommendations and, while discussing the issues at a national and international level, again highlighted the desperate need for long-term proactive change to be wrought and for it to happen immediately.

We are now in a situation where, almost a decade on from the floods of 2000 and a year past last year's savagely wet summer, the government is waiting upon the findings of an investigation by Sir Michael Pitt to see how the UK's ability to deal with flooding could be improved.

Interim findings from this report have been released already and there are 15 initial recommendations, which Pitt says need to be acted upon straight away, as well as over 70 other interim conclusions that need to be considered. The final report is expected in the summer.

The basic problem in all of this is simply one of time: too much is being talked about and too little is being done in terms of direct practical action that will make a genuine difference when the heavens open and the rain comes down again in stair rods.

The £800m annual spend on flood defences that the Institution of Civil Engineers was calling for back in 2000 is not going to become a reality for a number of years yet. Announcing the budget for flood defences last year, Hilary Benn, Secretary of State for the Environment, said: "This will rise from its current level of £600m, to £650m in 2008-09, £700m in 2009-10 and £800m in 2010-11." In February 2007, Benn then announced a further £34.5m that had been made available to help implement the recommendations of the Pitt Review.

By and large, the British Insurance Brokers' Association has welcomed the findings of the Pitt Review and, like everybody else, is keen to see work move ahead and a more unified and cohesive approach taken to the issues at hand.

Peter Staddon, technical director at BIBA, bemoans the fact that governments sometimes move slower than a "one legged tortoise with cramp" and is frustrated that too much time is spent working out who is liable for various problems and issues that arise. While Staddon understands that getting to the bottom of such matters is important he says: "It should not be about who is liable; it should be about solving the problem."

BIBA, like others, wants to see a single body take ultimate control of the fight against flooding in the UK and would be happy to see that responsibility fall on the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Thereafter, the EA could liaise with local authorities and help create a well-structured effort towards implementing the improvements that are needed.

Changing responsibilities

Unfortunately, this all takes time to feed through. Changes have been made already to the role played by the EA when it comes to the power it has over planning applications and in the future this should help prevent developers from being allowed to build on flood plains.

Adrian Ewington, senior product developer at Allianz Personal, is pleased such changes have been introduced under Planning Policy Statement 25, yet he is also aware that there are still a number of developments which were sanctioned before the new guidelines were put in place and so will still be built, despite questions over the suitability of their location.

Ewington, like Staddon, is pragmatic about the speed at which change can be implemented and he comments: "It is all to do with public awareness and, as flooding becomes more severe, it becomes more what constituents are going to be talking to their MPs about."

There have been enough reviews and reports into flooding to make sure that everybody is acutely aware of the issues that need to be dealt with. Now we need a concerted effort to put these changes into practice.

Progress is being made but the question remains as to whether or not anyone is confident that enough has been done. Ewington remarks: "If risk is replaced by a certainty of flooding then properties will become uninsurable."

We may not yet be there but the longer that interested parties argue the toss, the more at risk new and existing properties will become and the harder it will be for the industry to find sustainable solutions.

THE PITT REVIEW RECOMMENDS

- More frequent and systematic monitoring of groundwater levels at times of high risk by the Environment Agency.

- The EA, supported by local authorities and water companies, should identify as a matter of priority the areas at highest risk from surface water flooding.

- The EA should develop and implement quickly a clear policy on the use of temporary and demountable defences.

- All local resilience forums should review their current local arrangements for water rescue as soon as is possible.

- All local resilience forums should undertake an urgent review of designated rest centres and other major facilities.

- The Cabinet Office, with other departments, should consider the costs, benefits and feasibility of establishing arrangements very soon for the urgent acquisition of supplies.

- Department of Health guidance clarifying the role and accountabilities of organisations involved in providing scientific and technical advice during a major incident should be implemented as soon as possible.

- The guidance under preparation by the Cabinet Office to provide local responders with advice on the definition and identification of vulnerable people and on planning to support them in an emergency, should be issued as soon sa possible.

- The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs needs to develop and share a national flood emergency framework urgently.

- Category 1 responders should be provided with a detailed assessment of critical infrastructure in their areas as a matter of priority.

- The EA should make imperative its work with telecommunications companies to facilitate flood-warning schemes to all homes and businesses liable to flooding.

- Local resilience forums must develop plans urgently to enhance flood warnings through door knocking by local authorities.

- These forums should make arrangements quickly to involve local media to support its public information role.

- Members of the public should make up a flood kit.

- The public should increase their personal state of readiness and resilience to floods by following the EA's practical advice where appropriate.