Jamie Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jamie Reed on 2016-02-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will take steps to ensure the resilience of agriculture businesses in (a) Copeland and (b) Allerdale to respond to the effects of (i) Storm Desmond and (ii) future severe weather events.

George Eustice

We have been working closely with the NFU and other industry bodies to identify major problems, not only in Copeland and Allerdale, but across Cumbria, Lancashire, Yorkshire and Durham where exceptional rainfall added to ground which was already saturated. In response, we have provided grants and other support to help farmers restore their land through the Farming Recovery Fund. Farmers affected by flooding will be able to claim grants of between £500 and £20,000 to cover the cost of restoring their farmland.

In restoring damaged features such as bridges, fences or cross drains, we are encouraging farmers to protect against the future by considering building in protection against future flood damage. They can do this by locating these in a position where they are less likely to be damaged in the future or can be (for example, in the case of bridges) raised to reduce the risk of water damage. If farmers consider relocating features within their field, they could save replacement costs in the future.

We have also put in place in Cumbria a new partnership, which includes representatives of agriculture businesses, to develop an action plan to be published this summer. The action plan will cover a range of issues, such as what improvements may be needed to flood defences in the region; upstream options for slowing key rivers to reduce peak water flows, and ways of building stronger links between local residents, businesses, community groups and flood defence planning.