Government claims on flooding are laughable - Horwood

5.06.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Thu 25th Jun 2009

Commenting on today's Government's report on progress in implementing the recommendations of the Pitt report into flooding, Liberal Democrat Environment Spokesperson, Martin Horwood said:

"The 2007 floods wrecked homes, properties and lives. Two years on, the Government's claim to have made 'significant progress' is laughable.

"If new floods hit us this summer, Britain will be almost as ill-prepared as it was then.

"We have underfunded flood defence by hundreds of millions of pounds over the last two years and now face a public spending crisis with a backlog of schemes.

"168 families are still out of their homes since the floods in 1997; nobody has yet taken on the national overview of all flood risk; more houses are being built in flood risk areas; people are still being punished by punitive insurance premiums; and the Government still hasn't bothered to set up the National Resilience Forum which would enable crucial planning for future floods and other emergencies."

The Pitt Progress report and the Ministerial statement can be found in our download area.