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Pitt Report

May I thank my right hon. Friend for his announcement on private sewers, which will be most welcome in my constituency. He will know that parts of my constituency have suffered from chronic flooding problems—particularly the village of Cubbington, which has flooded about half a dozen times in the past few years. We have established a local flood forum to ascertain why it happens and who needs to fix it. It has made some progress, but it has stalled on the issue of who is responsible for remedying surface water problems. In his statement, my right hon. Friend referred to local authorities having responsibility for assessing and managing surface water, but is he clear that local authorities are also responsible for remedying surface water problems?