SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT NEEDS TO TACKLE FLOOD PREVENTION (Jim Hume)

SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT NEEDS TO TACKLE FLOOD PREVENTION

September 20, 2007 12:00 AM

Jim Hume, MSP for the South of Scotland, today spoke in the Scottish Parliamentary debate on flooding and insisted that the Scottish Government needs to tackle flooding prevention measures head on as a matter of priority.

Jim Hume said:-

"The Flood Prevention Bill consultation paper will be issued in January 2008, but given the immediate nature of this issue there are policy and funding issues that should be addressed ahead of the primary legislation.

"A single authority should be considered to ensure consistent implementation of national flooding policies at regional level and better co-ordination; flood management measures should be included within Rural Development Contract prescriptions; and co-ordination with existing plans and policies is needed, such as the Scottish Rural Development Programme, Scottish Forestry Strategy, Scottish Climate Programme/Adaptation and Scottish Biodiversity Strategy to ensure more widespread delivery of flood benefits where appropriate.

"I could not consider flooding without talking about climate change. The predictions are that winters in Scotland will become wetter with increases in the rainfall intensity and frequency. In other words, floods that are currently considered 'extreme' will become more common in future.

"Without action to reduce emissions significantly, by 2080 what is now a 1 in 50 year flood could become a 1 in 20 year flood. It's therefore not enough to manage the effects of climate change - the SNP must take urgent action to reduce harmful emissions. Cancelling public transport investment and blocking renewable energy projects is unsustainable. The SNP are dismantling EARL, ignoring expert advice on the growth in traffic levels whilst at the same time pledging to build bigger roads, blocking wind farm applications and have scrapped their manifesto commitment to annual climate change targets.

"It's almost obtuse to attempt to mitigate the effects of climate change without also taking much needed action to prevent its effects in the first instance.

The MSP continued:-

"In a local context the South of Scotland knows only too well the detrimental effects of flooding. From Hawick all the way down to Dumfries and Galloway, many towns have seen severe flooding. Taking Dumfries and Galloway for example, Whitesands has been a problem in the past and people will recall the severe flooding in 2005 which resulted in two bad landslides.

"And Hawick suffered devastating floods also in 2005 and I recently visited the town with Councillors Jock Houston and Ron Smith to discuss the Council's flood scheme.

"The cost of Hawick flood plan is £38 million, over half the £70 million estimated for the whole of the Borders. The problem is that the Scottish Government needs to make access to funds easier so that Hawick doesn't have to wait the estimated eight years before its scheme is installed."