Lord Smith: flooding budget cuts put UK at the mercy of extreme weather
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Version 0 of 1. Slashed flood defence budgets have left the nation at the mercy of the wilder weather that climate change is bringing, according to the outgoing chair of the Environment Agency. Lord Chris Smith, who steps down in July after a sometimes stormy six-year stint, said reduced funds and rising risks were an “inconvenient truth” and that failing to improve flood protection in the face of more frequent and extreme events was a false economy. In an interview with the Guardian, he also said: • the environment secretary, Owen Paterson, does not accept that global warming is due to the carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel burning; • the government has failed to fulfil David Cameron’s pledge to be the “greenest ever”; • the current resources available to regulate fracking safely could not cope with the government’s hoped-for shale gas boom; • major budget cuts at the Environment Agency (EA) have cut action against the illegal dumping of waste. The severe and prolonged winter flooding saw heavy criticism of Smith and the EA, despite the agency having to deal with cuts to annual flood defence budgets of 25% after the coalition took power, meaning that hundreds of schemes did not go ahead. Smith called Eric Pickles’s attack on EA expertise “unforgivable” but praised Paterson. “He certainly did a good job on supporting the EA through the flooding emergency, even to the extent that he was sending me texts from his hospital bed [after a detached retina]. I take my hat off to him.” But Smith said the extra £270m provided by government after the winter floods would only repair the damage suffered by many flood defences. “What we won’t be able to do is cope with all the added dangers that climate change will bring,” he said. A “classic example”, he said, was a £250m scheme to protect lower Thames from Windsor to Teddington. “This is an area of very substantial flood risk, as we saw during the winter. But at the moment the money is not on the table.” Smith also attacked the failure of ministers to restore funding to maintain existing defences. “My most important message is maintenance, maintenance, maintenance: that is every bit as important as building new schemes.” He said: “Any cuts to flood defence spending is of course a false economy because, as we face the increased prospect of flooding happening more frequently in more extreme forms, we need to be protecting not just people’s homes but we need to be protecting our economy. We are constantly making this case to the Treasury.” He said flood defences were the most cost effective public infrastructure investments, saving £8 in damages for every £1 spent. An exception, he noted, was the controversial dredging of rivers on the Somerset Levels, which provided less value for money. On Paterson, who cut funding for adapting to climate change in the UK by almost half, Smith said: “He recognises weather patterns are changing and that something is happening to the climate. But he doesn’t necessarily accept that it’s down to the CO2 we are throwing into the atmosphere. I wish he had a better view on that.” The EA is responsible for the environmental safety of fracking and, in 2013, Smith was summoned by Paterson to resolve a dispute over the regulation of shale gas with fracking company boss Lord John Browne. Smith said on Thursday: ”Our firm view is that existing regulations are adequate to ensure that fracking operations happen safely. At the moment we have the resources, for the current level of applications, which of course are relatively small.” But he said the government is “extremely keen” on fracking and a fracking boom would require more money to be provided to ensure the environmental safety of fracking. Smith said the EA budget cuts, including thousands of job losses, had been painful. But he said efficiency measures – leading to back-office costs falling 33% less – had made it a better organisation. The biggest impacts outside flood defences would be on fighting the criminal dumping of waste, he said: “Illegal waste sites can be extremely offensive and nasty for local communities, but I am afraid we will be able to do less of that.” It was “really disappointing” that Cameron’s government had failed to deliver the “greenest government ever”, said Smith, a former Labour cabinet minister. “The environment is the most important long-term issue we face,” he said, adding that politicians underestimated people’s passion for the environment, particularly in their local areas. “There is a fundamental regard for, respect for and love for the environment amongst people. Politicians ought to be seizing onto that.” Friends of the Earth’s Andrew Pendleton said: “Smith is quite right – politicians need to be honest with people because they’ve known for years that climate change will have a devastating impact on the UK, with worse flooding and damage to coastlines and crops. To have an environment secretary who disputes man-made climate change is simply ludicrous. As a first step, David Cameron must give Owen Paterson the boot as soon as possible.” |