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Flood and Water Management Bill

My Lords, in moving Amendment 14, I will not talk at any length about the need for integrated catchment area management as part of the flood risk strategies because it is self-evident that it is an important component. When we were interrupted by the Division, I was saying that catchment areas very often do not coincide with administrative boundaries, which is true at the local level and the regional level, and between England and Wales. At a local level, it is very important that there is sufficient co-operation and co-ordination within catchment areas so that what is done upstream, in the middle of the river and downstream is co-ordinated in a way which helps to manage flood risk. At national level, the strategy must set out how this is to be achieved, and that is my reason for moving the amendment. I should add—and this gives the Minister the chance to answer the question that I asked last time—that if the national level strategy includes all the main rivers, there clearly has to be catchment area integration between the responsibilities of the Environment Agency in dealing with rivers and the responsibilities of the local flood risk management authorities. The noble Lord, Lord Cameron, said earlier that engineers will often find a solution that they understand. It might be an engineering solution involving concrete because that is what they understand and is how they work. That might be the right answer or it might be the wrong answer but, unless the proposal is looked at within the context of a catchment area, it could be a disastrous answer. With regard to the use of farmland, there has to be integration with farming strategies, with single farm payment strategies and with environmental enhancement schemes on farms and the like. Unless CAP measures can be integrated into the whole strategy within a catchment basin, then it will not work. The Minister referred to planting trees and the involvement of the Forestry Commission. All these things are necessary, which is why the strategy should clearly require this kind of approach. At regional level, regional strategies—formerly regional spatial strategies—need to take account of catchment area planning and, at local level, the local development framework, which is the replacement for local plans, needs to take account of catchment area planning with regard to water and flood management. Particularly at district council level, where there are quite small district councils, a catchment area might have a lot of different local planning authorities. Unless they are integrated and have to take part, partly in their role as flood management authorities but also as local planning authorities, it will become impossible to have proper catchment area planning of the kind that is needed. Therefore, our view is that it should be clearly stated in the Bill that this is a requirement, and we ask the Government to take this matter very seriously. I beg to move.