Government Cuts to Flood Defence are Irresponsible says Farron

Shadow Secretary of State for DEFRA Tim Farron MP has accused the Government of an irresponsible lack of foresight over flood prevention after a parliamentary question tabled by Mr Farron revealed that funding for flood defences have been cut by £12million over just two years.

Mr Farron has raised concerns that the Government has still not learnt its lesson from the summer of 2007 when thousands of homes were damaged after severe flooding caused rivers across the country to burst their banks.

Commenting Mr Farron said:

"The decision to cut flood prevention funding is a complete oversight on the part of the Government. They should be investing more in flood relief schemes to ensure that we don't see a repeat of 2007 when local homes and agricultural land were devastated by the nationwide floods.

"The Government are trying to dig themselves out of their economic hole by making cuts to their budget. But by cutting spending now they are simply increasing the likelihood that they will have to pay for it later.

"Within my constituency we have the Stock Beck flood relief scheme which I helped to secure and which in the past has successfully prevented the flooding of hundreds of homes around the Sedbergh Road area of Kendal and Castle Park Primary School.

"There is an obvious pressure on the Government to prioritise its spending, but making cuts to flood defence in the short term will only create a long term problem that could turn out to be far more costly if we experience another season of flooding."