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Flooding (South Ribble)

Those issues were discussed at length at the public meeting that I held at Banks. Representatives of West Lancashire district council, United Utilities and the Environment Agency attended the meeting. Although the Government altered the rules a few years ago to ensure that the planning authority takes into account the concerns of the Environment Agency about flooding on the flood plain, and can refuse planning applications on that basis, I do not think that the planning authority has the same powers in relation to concerns about the sewerage system. My view, and the view that came over strongly at that meeting, not least from people connected with local authorities, was that some powers should be given to local authorities, if necessary within certain limits, to stop new development if the sewerage system is not adequate. What is clear and has been highlighted in reports on flooding in other areas is the need for properly co-ordinated systems to be set up between the various agencies. In my area, that would be United Utilities, the Environment Agency, Lancashire county council as my highways authority, and the district councils. They all need to give high priority to flood prevention works. Although in many cases the work that they have to do may seem fairly minor and unimportant, failure to carry out that work can undermine a bigger programme of work undertaken by one of the partner organisations. There must be much more emphasis from the Government on the need to tackle these issues. In west Lancashire, the various agencies now have a programme of working closely together. That needs to be pushed even more strongly, and I urge Ministers to realise the importance of such programmes and to ensure that agencies work more proactively together, rather than doing their little bit of the jigsaw without understanding how it fits into the wider picture. I shall speak briefly about the problems in agricultural areas. I am concerned that funding is being directed from farming areas. There needs to be some recognition of the importance of first class arable areas, such as those in my constituency. It is crucial that the Environment Agency maintains its watercourses. A significant area of land is shrinking in my constituency, and in areas such as Johnsons Meanygate in Tarleton, flooding has taken place because there is insufficient gradient left to take the water away and there are no pumps to enable the water that used to go down the watercourse to be pumped into the next stretch of the watercourse. The Environment Agency is reluctant to invest in new pumping systems and I know of the NFU's concerns about the maintenance of existing pumping systems in my constituency. Again, this issue needs to be borne in mind by Ministers in their dealings with the Environment Agency. About 30 years ago, several hundred hectares of land in the Ribble estuary was reclaimed from the sea at Hesketh Outmarsh. This was the last major reclamation scheme in the area. Last year, about half of this land, 170 hectares, at Hesketh Outmarsh West, was returned to salt marsh under a scheme supported by the Environment Agency and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. This is the largest single managed realignment of the coast in England. The sea wall was breached last year, and, using old photographs from the 1970s, ditches were dug to recreate the original channels. In time, we will have a new bird sanctuary in one of the key estuaries for migrating birds in the country. The salt marsh will also act as a recipient for flood water at high tides, safeguarding communities further up the River Ribble. There remains, however, concern among some farmers and the NFU over the impact of the scheme further up the catchment area as the main water course, Hundred End gutter, will be fitted with a lock-down system during high tides. The Environment Agency has done modelling work to show that the new system will not increase the risk of flooding upstream. The NFU and local farmers should be invited to see and discuss this modelling work, because it is crucial that everything is done to ensure that local farmers have confidence in the changes that are taking place. I know that we cannot guarantee that no flooding will take place in future because we have been unable to guarantee that with the existing system, but there is a real fear among a number of farmers in the area that the changes will make things worse. I have had lengthy discussions with the Environment Agency and I would welcome its setting up a meeting to discuss the detailed data and the modelling process with local farmers and the NFU to try to win confidence that the system will work. The final matter that I want to raise concerns the impact of the new drainage rates being introduced by United Utilities on places of worship. As I understand it, places of worship have paid water rates based on a water meter and surface drainage rates have been linked to the metered water charges. Since April 2008, the drainage rate has been replaced by a charge based on the area of land and buildings that require surface drainage. I have had representations from many churches, including New Longton Methodist, King's Free Methodist in Penwortham, St James church, Lostock Hall, and the orthodox congregation based at the former Leyland Lane Methodist chapel in Leyland. While new charges are being phased in—we are in the first year of the three-year phasing process—the increase in charges is huge for most places of worship. I have had a meeting with representatives of Ofwat who set the rules for United Utilities when it moved on to the new charging system. I have also seen the guidance that Ofwat was given by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. It is clear to me that my hon. Friend the Minister needs to look again at the matter and give Ofwat and, in turn, United Utilities, the power to set up a different system of charging for places of worship. By their nature, they tend to use little water and have paid little in water and drainage charges in the past. Those that have provided off-street car parking for their worshippers now find themselves faced with huge bills. To sum up, I should like the Minister to consider the issue of United Utilities' investment in the future, which is crucial, the planning process and how we can ensure that we do not add further properties to inadequate sewerage systems, which is what is happening all over the place at the moment. We need an assurance from the Environment Agency that priority will be given to good agricultural areas and that it will continue to maintain and look after water courses and, where necessary, put in fresh pumping systems and maintain existing pumping systems. We need to ensure that there is continued and improved co-ordination between the main agencies. I ask my hon. Friend to be prepared to look again at the issue of drainage rates for places of worship.