MP COLUMN: Building Newtown's flood resilience

After the worst floods of the autumn so far, new MP Steve Witherden (pictured) saw for himself for the first time just how badly Welshpool and Newtown are impacted, and has responded in his latest column for MyTown Media readers.

“Last week saw flooding up and down the spine of the constituency with roads closed, schools and businesses shuttered, and train services delayed.

While residents of towns like Welshpool and Newtown are well accustomed to the Severn bursting its banks, the Wrexham parts of our new constituency are not particularly flood prone, yet they too saw serious flooding.

I agree with the comments expressed by Cllr Jackie Charlton on MyWelshpool regarding the threat that climate change presents here. Montgomeryshire has always suffered from flooding, with so many of our communities near the Severn and its tributaries. The scientific consensus is beyond clear, however: climate change is leading to stronger storms, increased rainfall, and worse flooding in the UK. This is the most immediate challenge that climate change will present to us in Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr.

I attended a briefing on flooding and flood resilience in Parliament last week, which highlighted that climate change related damages are already estimated to cost the UK 1.1% of GDP every year, projected to rise to 3.3% by 2050.

It will mean more frequent disruption on the roads. It will mean more weather-related deaths. It will mean a retooling of insurance markets, too, otherwise increasing premiums will be passed on to consumers.

It is too early to say exactly what caused the tragic train collision near Talerddig this week and the investigation must be permitted to run its course unfettered. Nevertheless, the last train accident to take the life of passengers in the UK, at Stonehaven in 2020, was ultimately caused by a faulty drainage system leading to flooding and the subsequent landslip that derailed the train. Disruption to our transport networks, fatal or otherwise, will only worsen as extreme weather becomes more frequent and harder to predict.

Labour is tackling the climate crisis, accelerating the decarbonisation of the economy by continuing to phase out fossil fuels, establishing a National Wealth Fund to invest in renewables, improving national grid capacity, and following the Welsh Government in creating a publicly owned clean energy company for the UK.

We must keep going further in Wales, not just by playing our part in the green transition, but by fixing the water industry too. Decades of privatisation have undermined flood resilience through chronic underinvestment. This is not to say a model of public ownership, like that of Dŵr Cymru, is a silver bullet, although reinvesting profits into public infrastructure rather than into the pockets of private shareholders has to be part of the solution.

No new reservoirs being built in the UK since 1992, with many existing ones being drained and built on since, is a conspicuous example of the problem.

Across the country, crumbling Victorian infrastructure like sewers that overflow with heavy rainfall is contributing to the pollution in our waterways and causing floods like those seen on the Borfa Green bank in Welshpool last week.

With the Severn flowing through both England and Wales there can be no long-term solutions without UK-Wales cooperation.

That is why I am very pleased to share that the Welsh and Westminster Governments have this week announced the biggest examination of the water industry in 35 years, establishing an Independent Commission which will reform the regulators, boost investment, and take action to improve the health of our rivers.

It will be fully cross-border, reporting back next year with recommendations to both the UK environment secretary and the Deputy First Minister of Wales, who has responsibility for climate change and rural affairs.

The UK Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs has already secured agreement from water companies to ringfence money for infrastructure projects, preventing funds that should go to improving a public good from being lost to executive bonuses and private pay-outs.

It has also already introduced the Water (Special Measures) Bill, setting out tools to crack down on failing water companies including new powers for regulators, a code of conduct for executives, and mandating the installation of monitors at sewage outlets.

It is vital that Wales gets the investment and reform it needs to rebuild the water sector and play our part in tackling climate change, which will be crucial in future-proofing communities like Welshpool from flooding. Labour governments on each side of the border will work together to deliver both.