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Flood and Water Management Bill

My Lords, I shall speak to my two amendments in this grouping. The noble Lord, Lord Greaves, seemed to indicate that he was looking for eloquence and depth in my remarks but I fear that he will be disappointed. All my interventions on the first half of the Bill are about catchment co-ordination, so I shall be dropping in my pearls sparingly, one by one. The noble Lord is right that at Second Reading I said that I believed it was vital that we retain the management of our water on the basis of the whole catchment. The alternative, whereby every individual section of a river is managed differently with no thought for those downstream, is, to my way of thinking, a recipe for chaos, greater overall expense and greater insecurity. As I also said at Second Reading, I nevertheless sympathise with the desire to ensure that there is democratic responsibility for flood defences on a local basis. I fully acknowledge that having local flood risk-management strategies devised by the lead local flood authority is a good idea. I recognise that Clause 9(5) and Clause 10(5) currently require the local strategy to be consistent with the national strategy, and that it is possible that the national strategy could, among other things, spell out what I am seeking to achieve in my amendments in this group. However, if Clause 9(4) and Clause 10(4) are trying to put the essential points of a local strategy into the Bill—that is, what it must specify—then for goodness’ sake let us ensure that we spell out the most important consideration: proper, co-ordinated catchment management. This means that we will ensure that we have the least overall cost and, at the same time, the maximum effective security against flooding for all in the catchment. I have to admit that Amendment 25, tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Greaves, which I had not seen until late last night, probably covers my point rather more comprehensively than my wording. I always say what I want, but I am never very good at getting the right mechanisms for achieving it. I would be very happy to support their amendments in lieu of mine, if the Minister thinks it is a better way forward.