Boris Johnson accused of 'outrageous' lack of concern about floods

[Denzil_DC]

PM to chair Cobra meeting after being criticised for not declaring national emergency

Boris Johnson has been accused of displaying an “utterly outrageous” lack of concern about the severe floods that have devastated hundreds of homes and caused more than 1,200 properties to be evacuated in northern England.
...
That criticism was echoed in the towns badly affected by the downpours, where 30 flood warnings remain in place including five “danger to life” alerts along the River Don in South Yorkshire.

In the Nottinghamshire town of Worksop, scores of residents were evacuated and more than 200 homes and businesses were flooded on Friday after a month’s worth of rain fell in 24 hours.

Simon Greaves, the Labour leader of Bassetlaw district council, said Johnson had been “preoccupied with electioneering” when he should have been coordinating a national response to the disaster, which encompasses Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and South Yorkshire.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/nov/12/boris-johnson-accused-of-outrageous-lack-of-concern-about-floods

Worse, Johnson turned his visit to the already afflicted town of Matlock into a cheery photo opportunity by "mopping" the entryway of the town's Specsavers, leaving the floor in a worse state than when he started, amid suspicions the water wasn't directly from the flood, but deliberately spilt for the occasion:



There are benefits to being the incumbent party during an election (as long as you can persuade people to forget your party's been in power for the last 9 disastrous years) - and the Tories have been trying to make the most of them in the early stages of the election. But then events can veer round to bite you in the arse.

[Firestorm49]

1. Bolshoi Boris's one and only concern, much like Trump's ......

....is the total dismantling of the United Kingdom at any cost. Floods? Who cares. There are more important things to worry about than the silly people. It’s Mother Russia that counts - the hopes of becoming an oligarch.

[T_i_B]

2. It was an odd choice

The cynic in me expected him to be doing his photo op in a marginal constituency round here instead of Matlock, which is part of a safe Tory seat. Labour's decline has given the Tories plenty of electoral opportunity in South Yorkshire, North Derbyshire and North Nottinghamshire, all of which have been heavily affected by the floods

But then if he had taken that approach he might have had hecklers or people asking difficult questions of him.

[Denzil_DC]

3. The difficult questions and some choice home truths came today:

Link to tweet

Joe Pike ✔
@joepike

NEW: @BorisJohnson is finally visiting South Yorkshire this morning - six days after the flooding hit.

He is doing one pooled interview and not talking to regional media. @itvcalendar | #GE19 | #Floods

Joe Pike ✔
@joepike

WATCH: ‘It’s took you over five days. You should have been there Saturday morning having a meeting... and I’m sorry your announcements yesterday were a pittance.’

Residents in flood-hit Stainforth tell @BorisJohnson what they think of his govt’s response.@itvcalendar | #Floods

[Twitter video]

Link to tweet

ITV News Politics ✔
@ITVNewsPolitics

'You didn't see them, little girls from Fishlake with no shoes on their feet'

A resident gives an emotional account as Boris Johnson visits flood-hit Yorkshire

[Twitter video]

ITV News Politics ✔
@ITVNewsPolitics

'Are you going to put it back, what's been cut over austerity?'

Another resident asks Boris Johnson whether he will provide more funding to Doncaster council.

The prime minister says, 'we are increasing funding for councils, I don't know the exact figures'.

[Twitter video]

That presumably is the funding covered here - Towns fund boosts Tory-held marginals over poorest areas

Link to tweet

Joe Pike ✔
@joepike

WATCH: We weren’t invited. But we turned up anyway.

Here’s some of our coverage of what happened when @BorisJohnson visited flood-hit communities in South Yorkshire today:@itvcalendar | #GE19 | #Floods

[Twitter video]

Link to tweet

Otto English @Otto_English

Boris Johnson thinks he can pitch up for 10 minutes, shake some hands, deploy some Old Etonian charm and win votes courtesy of the BBC cameras. This woman ain't having it - and she's a hero.

[Twitter video]

[Denzil_DC]

4. Council leaders demand huge funding rise after floods

Politicians in northern England warn of lasting damage, after 1,758 properties badly hit

Leaders of councils across northern England have called for “massive” increases in funding to deal with major incidents, as the Guardian learned that around 1,800 homes and businesses have been badly flooded in the region.
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The leaders of councils in Doncaster, Rotherham, Sheffield, Barnsley, Bassetlaw and Kirklees warned of “considerable and lasting damage on a wide scale”, including to power plants and transport infrastructure, and called for funding increases to help them cope with future floods.
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Though the government reimburses local authorities for costs incurred as part of their immediate response under the so-called Bellwin scheme, the council leaders demanded help to pay for long-term recovery.

In a letter to the communities secretary, Robert Jenrick, they wrote: “There is likely to be considerable and lasting damage on a wide scale, including, but certainly not limited to, vital infrastructure including power plants, roads and bridges which is likely to have long-term impacts, such as disruptions to supplies of clean water, wastewater treatment, electricity, transport, communication, education, and health and social care. Previous floods have also resulted in a reduction in economic activity which can leave communities vulnerable.”

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/nov/14/council-leaders-demand-huge-funding-rise-after-floods

One more reason why it may not have been a great idea to push for a winter election ...

[T_i_B]

6. Sheffield has done a lot of work improving flood defences

This pushed a lot of floodwater down stream to Rotherham and Doncaster which have hit harder by the floods.

Thing is, this sort of flooding is meant to be once every 150 years and it's now happened twice in 12 years.

[Denzil_DC]

7. The article does mention some of the mitigation projects.

But, as you point out, they need to be coordinated to ensure they don't just push the problem downstream, and previous worst-case scenarios need updating.

[Denzil_DC]

5. Meanwhile ...

Thousands of new homes planned in high-risk flood zones across England

Investigation raises concerns about the ability of the UK's environmental regulator to manage homebuilding as the climate changes
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By cross-referencing housebuilding plans in 10 flood-prone local authorities with the Environment Agency’s (EA) flood risk map, Unearthed has identified proposals to build 9,688 homes in high-risk areas.

Our investigation revealed:

* Across Lincolnshire, which currently has five flood warnings in place, 5,227 homes are planned in high-risk flood zones.
* The developments include Boston United Football Club’s new 5,000 seater stadium.
* In Sheffield and Doncaster, the two areas hit the hardest by recent flooding in England, hundreds of new-builds are planned in high-risk zones. In addition, 5,123 homes are planned for medium-risk areas, including a “new town” just over one mile from Fishlake, which has seen heavy flooding this week.
* Figures obtained from the EA show that in 2017-18 in almost half the cases where the agency objected to a planning application from a local authority, the EA did not know whether its advice was followed.
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Unearthed selected the 10 English councils with the highest percentage of high flood risk land using the EA’s map. We then plotted sites those councils listed in their five-year plans for housing supply. We also added Sheffield and Doncaster after recent flooding in those areas.

We identified sites in those 12 local authorities with the potential to deliver 9,688 homes, all in areas of high flood risk. The vast majority of these were located in the East Midlands, with a sizeable minority also planned for development in the Thames Valley. Two of those councils, City of London and Rochford, had no homes planned in high-risk zones.
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A total of 116 flood warnings were in place for England at the time of writing. Weather warnings are in place across the country and 20,000 troops are currently distributing sandbags in South Yorkshire.

https://unearthed.greenpeace.org/2019/11/15/flooding-uk-boris-johnson-sheffield-yorkshire/

[T_i_B]

8. In the case of Sheffield....

….the council still hasn't released it's local plan, indeed the local council seems very keen on delaying publication of their plans for housebuilding for as long as possible.

Central government in Westminster is telling councils that they must build new houses, so it's a matter for local councils of how best to implement the orders from Tory ministers.

However, as can be seen from North East Derbyshire where I used to live, Tories at local level are very fond of campaigning against Labour councils for doing what they are required to do by Tories in Westminster. Indeed the Tories in the town where I used to live held a totally unnecessary referendum on their neighbourhood plan only last month.

Anyway, away from local planning controversies, one idea from the Green party is to replace grouse moors with woodland. Given that this would affect the Upper Don Valley and Peak District, possibly reducing flooding this is an idea I am certainly open to.

https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/politics/1863554/green-party-launches-radical-plan-to-replace-grouse-moors-with-forestry/