Greens call for action to stop flooding.

24th June 2008

One year on from the floods that devastated communities in South
Yorkshire, the Green Party has called for radical action to prevent them
from happening again. The Greens point out that the Environment Agency
has criticised the Strategic Flood Risk Assessment in the Sheffield
Development Framework as not fit for purpose".

Green Cllr for Central Ward Bernard Little said, "Many homes and
businesses are still feeling the effects of the floods, and lives have
been lost or broken. Although it cant be proved that last years flood
was a direct result of climate change, there were 206 global flood
disasters last year compared with an average of 172 between 2000 and
2006,which is consistent with climate change scientists' predictions. So
we have got to be prepared for more extreme weather events like this.

"We need a strategy to manage flooding in the whole river catchment area
that Sheffield lies in, not just at bottlenecks. This means planting
trees and creating banks on slopes, creating retention ponds to slow
down water flow, and encouraging more permanent pasture so the soil acts
like a sponge. We need to conserve wetland and recreate reed-beds and
woodland in flood plains and stop canalising our streams and rivers.
English Nature, the Environment Agency and water management agencies
must be given the power to stop developments that make flooding more likely.

“In planning there needs to be more recognition of the need for more
permeable surfaces to reduce water flow. The blanket tarmacking of areas
for parking and the like needs to stop, and the use of alternatives such
as grasscrete and pebbles for drainage in new developments should become
the norm.

"All this demands real long term political leadership and a strategy to
manage flooding that tackles the roots of the problem."

ENDS

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