MP challenges Government on flood resilience plans

Shropshire’s readiness to tackle increasing flood events was questioned in Parliament this week when an MP asked the Government how it was building resilience for residents.

Helen Morgan, MP for North Shropshire, said new warnings from the Environment Agency highlighted the growing threat of flooding, with a recent report putting an extra 1,600 homes put at risk.

The MP, who sits on the All Party Parliamentary Group for Flooding and Flooded Communities, spoke in the House of Commons on Thursday (20th November), after heavy rain brought severe flooding and disruption across the Midlands and Wales, with the Environment Agency issuing dozens of flood warnings and deploying emergency barriers along the River Severn.

Helen said: “My constituents are no strangers to flooding, whether that’s from the rivers Severn and Vyrnwy in villages like Melverley, or from surface water and inadequate infrastructure in Gobowen and Hadnall.

“But the Environment Agency says that another 1,600 properties in my constituency will be vulnerable to surface water flooding by 2050.”

The agency’s latest national assessment warns that 25 years from now, up to eight million properties in England, nearly one in four, could be at risk of flooding, driven by climate change and more intense rainfall. Surface water flooding alone is forecast to rise by 43%, leaving rural communities like North Shropshire increasingly exposed.

Despite these stark figures, the MP highlighted that the Government’s Planning and Infrastructure Bill contains no mention of flooding or climate resilience, prompting criticism from MPs and environmental groups.

Amendments tabled by Helen and her Liberal Democrat colleagues aimed at mandating flood risk management and sustainable drainage systems were previously rejected, raising fears that new developments will worsen the problem.

The issue is an ongoing concern in North Shropshire including in villages like Gobowen and Hadnall, which both suffered from repeated flooding last year.

Helen took aim at the controversial Bill, currently passing through Parliament, and said it had “failed to address flooding or climate change at all”.

She called on the Government to hold a debate or to issue a statement outlining how the UK would build flood resilience in the future.