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Flood and Water Management Bill

My Lords, I am grateful for the Minister’s reply. I shall of course withdraw the amendment. I was intrigued, however, by his explanation as to why the national strategy will "happen" and the local strategies will be "expected". He said that it was all a matter of getting planning permission, possible difficulties of funding and so on. Will he confirm that the national strategy will cover all main rivers? It is quite clear that local rivers are covered by the local strategy. Clause 9 refers to "ordinary watercourses" as opposed to main watercourses. However, main rivers and watercourses go down to quite small streams in many areas. There is a main watercourse in the ward that I represent on Pendle council which rarely has any water in it. It is a little beck and there is water in it only if it rains heavily, yet it is a main river. As part of a housing development, the Environment Agency insisted that there should be a scheme for a little weir and a pond. It has caused huge problems with planning and getting people to do it, because nobody knows who owns the land—it is a nightmare. However, this is a very small, local matter. Will the Minister confirm that the national strategy will cover all main rivers? In the case of the river that I am talking about, "expected" is certainly the case. If it does not cover all main rivers, where do they appear in the strategies? The list set out in the clause on local strategies does not include main watercourses. The planting and management scheme upstream of Pickering is extremely welcome. It is exactly the kind of issue that arises in catchment area management, which comes up in the next group of amendments. My information is that for a 2007-level flood in Pickering, the new measures are expected to reduce the water levels and flooding by no more than around 10 per cent. It is far from the whole picture, although it is very welcome. On that basis, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment 12 withdrawn. Amendment 13 not moved. Amendment 14 Moved by