Flooding Bill set to become law

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Battered by awful weather before Christmas and reliant on home insurance for a place to live, residents of Cumbria will be glad to hear that a Bill designed to make a "real and tangible" difference should flooding reoccur has been sent for Royal Assent.

The Flood and Water Management Bill, which gives the Environment Agency a strategic overview role and grants local authorities more power to manage the problem, was accepted by MPs after a number of amendments were made in the House of Lords.

The proposals give councils responsibility for the day-to-day management of flood water and additional power to safeguard currently unprotected areas.

Junior environment minister Huw Irranca-Davies said: "Floods can be massively disrupting to people's lives and to businesses, sometimes for a prolonged period, and the events in Cumbria in the autumn are a vivid reminder of this.

"Climate change is likely to make both floods and droughts more frequent. So the measures in the Bill will make a real and tangible difference and this is why this Government made the Bill a priority."

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