Environment secretary Caroline Spelman has conjured up a little money to put towards the UK's flood defence budgets ? which she heavily cut
Is the dam starting to crack? The environment secretary Caroline Spelman has conjured up some money to put towards the UK's flood defence budgets, which she heavily cut. Not a lot of money, mind you, �21m this year: "small beer" according to Charles Tucker, chair of the National Flood Forum, which represents over 200 community groups.
I have now written about Defra's flood defence cuts four times in a month. Why? I live on a hill, so it's not self-interest.
I am simply angry at Defra's appalling spinning on what can be a life-and-death issue. Speak to flood victims and, even if no injuries were suffered, you'll hear harrowing tales of homes swamped by filth, a life's possessions lost and months or years spent living out of caravans.
The government says flood defences are a priority. Everyone, including Spelman and David Cameron, agrees the risk of flooding is increasing due to climate change. I can't reconcile those statements with the cuts they have imposed. You need to spend more to maintain the level of protection we have now, as the environment select committee pointed out yesterday.
Cameron tried to spin the new budgets as "roughly the same", while Spelman admitted to an 8% cut. Everyone else, including the Environment Agency, thinks the cut is about a quarter. And that assumes the 33% rise in flood defence budgets under the last government would have flattened out. (You can read all the details here.)
The government is passing off responsibility for flood defence planning to local authorities from April 2011, but won't ring-fence the money. It wants local communities that can afford to pay towards flood defences to be able to chip in and move up the pecking order, but can't explain how this will not discriminate against the poor communities that can't afford to pay.
The funding announced today, says Defra, will cover the costs of local authorities "putting into place and carrying out new responsibilities, such as flood-mapping, producing risk-management plans and supporting community flood awareness groups". There's �21m for 2011-12, and �36m for each of the three years after that. That compares to �2.1bn that the government expects to spend on flood and coastal defences by 2015.
So what does Tucker, a man in the deep end when it comes to flooding, think?
"It is small beer. But we at the Flood Forum are angry that the removal of ring-fencing will leave Lead Local Flood Authorities free to spend this on anything they want to. This is one instance where ring-fencing should NOT be removed!
"Another big fear is that the global cuts in funding and the new emphasis on communities contributing to schemes means that the first call on the money allocated to LLFAs is likely to be "top-up" funding for capital schemes in the existing programme. So the �21m may just go to plug the shortfall resulting from the main cuts.
"Government is giving with one hand and taking away with the other, while allowing Local Authorities to avoid taking up their responsibilities to flood victims and flood-affected communities."
The underlying problem here is the massive budget cut Spelman accepted for her department. Only one department fared worse: Communities and Local Government, which, of course, now has to fund the devolved responsibilities for flood defences. Will Spelman regret bagging her seat in the Star Chamber by agreeing to slash her department's spending? I wouldn't be surprised.
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