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Pitt Report

I am sorry to hear about the problems that my hon. Friend's constituents have had to face. In the end, given that there is a two-tier system in some places, we have to make it absolutely clear who has the lead responsibility, which is why we decided that upper-tier authorities should be primarily responsible. Councils need to talk to each other, as they do, and they need to work out how to allocate the responsibility, albeit that the upper-tier authority has the prime responsibility to ensure that allocation. It is about getting together all the people who have responsibility for all the different bits and pieces—including some private owners, as people do not always know who owns a culvert that might cause a problem if it is blocked and there is a lot of rain—and sorting the problems out. We want to make it clear that local authorities have a lead responsibility for sorting them out; that is what people want.