Flood Preparedness Carlisle 2025-04-24

Opened the debate

I am pleased to have secured an Adjournment debate on a topic that is so important to my constituency of Carlisle. In the last two decades, Carlisle has suffered two devastating floods... The flood of January 2005 was the worst since 1822, causing significant damage and loss of life. In 2015, another severe flood hit Carlisle, affecting over 2,200 properties. Despite progress in subsequent years, including improved protections for homes and businesses around Warwick Road and Botcherby areas, more needs to be done... The Caldew Flood Risk Management Scheme is at the top of the list, which aims to protect over 1,700 properties but has faced delays since being paused in 2021.

Government Response

I thank my hon. Friend for securing this debate. Protecting communities from flooding is a priority. Carlisle received over £1 million in investment between April ’25 and March ’26 across nine schemes, including £300,000 for the Caldew flood risk management scheme to protect over 1,700 properties. Great progress has been made; however, local authorities are responsible for setting up rest centres during evacuations. Typically, those locations are not published in advance due to risks of people attending inactive or affected locations. We will work with local authorities to ensure a list of potential shelters is provided. The Environment Agency will contact my hon. Friend to discuss the location of emergency shelters and how to inform residents about their use while considering active issues. We are investing £2.65 billion over two years in flood schemes, helping protect 52,000 homes and businesses. Furthermore, we are prioritising £140 million for critical projects ready for delivery, ensuring nearby communities are protected as soon as possible. The full list of funded schemes can be found online. In addition to repairing assets damaged by storms last winter and ongoing flood events, a further £72 million is allocated this year to continue repairs and ensure resilience. We are also re-prioritising £108 million for repairing and restoring critical assets, targeting repairs towards assets damaged in recent storms. We are committed to enhancing flood resilience through the establishment of a flood resilience taskforce. This includes discussions on long-term funding reform and improvement of flood warnings, recovery, and insurance. The Government has provided £16 million in additional funding for internal drainage boards, raising the total fund to £91 million. More than 400,000 hectares of agricultural land and around 91,000 homes will benefit from this investment. Additionally, the sustainable farming initiative now covers more than half of all farmed land with over 37,000 live agreements focusing on strengthening natural flood defences. The current SFI budget is fully allocated and new reforms will be detailed post-spending review in summer. A strategic vision for future floods investment consultations are planned to address local challenges effectively. Concerns about locks and weirs management were raised by Matt Rodda, who questioned whether there was a national standard for their maintenance during high flow levels. The Minister acknowledged these concerns and committed to discussing them with officials for potential inclusion in flood plans across the country.