FLOODING
Question by Nicholas Soames MP to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government; The Rt Hon Eric Pickles MP, following his Statement on Flooding, Monday, 10th February 2014.
The Rt Hon Nicholas Soames MP (Mid Sussex) (Con): As my right hon. Friend wisely reflected, it is the exceptional weather that is responsible for flooding. Does he agree that, in the end, the forces of unstoppable nature humble us all, as we have faced the wettest January since 1767? As he rightly says, the time for review will come later, but does he agree that one lesson, as outlined wisely by my hon. Friend the Member for Newbury (Richard Benyon), is that land management needs to be looked at again in the different areas where floods have taken place?
The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, The Rt Hon Eric Pickles MP: As always, my right hon. Friend is correct. We cannot have conventional orthodoxy, and neither should we replace one inflexible orthodoxy with another. We have only to stand close to these rivers, some of which were previously gentle and meandering, or to see that monstrous gap in Brunel’s railway to see the sheer strength of nature. Conventional orthodoxy has to be re-examined, and instead we need bespoke solutions for each area of the country.