Liberal Democrats pledge to fight on over flood risk powers

6.05.00pm GMT Wed 20th Jan 2010

ON the penultimate day of the Flood and Water Management Bill committee stage, both the government and the Conservatives have voted down a Liberal Democrat amendment that would have given farmers and landowners a right to maintain land that has been designated by a flood risk management authority without going through the bureaucracy of getting approval every time.

Martin Horwood, who is the Liberal Democrat national spokesperson for flooding, tabled the amendment along with his colleague Roger Williams.

Schedule 1, paragraph 5 of the Bill states that 'A person may not alter, remove or replace a designated structure or feature without the consent of the responsible authority'. The responsible authority is the Environment Agency, lead local flood authorities (usually county councils), district authorities or Internal Drainage Boards. Designation takes place when any of these authorities decides that a feature is important to flood management.

The Liberal Democrat amendment 140 to this line of the Bill adds in that this is the case 'except where routine maintenance or maintenance for safety purposes is required of a structure, and where routine maintenance or use or good management is required of a natural or man-made feature of the environment.' This would mean that every act of routine maintenance, agriculture, good land or woodland management to a designated feature would not need bureaucratic approval, or put the owner or manager at risk of prosecution.

'I was astonished' said Martin, 'I thought that the Tories at least would understand the implications for local landowners and farmers and for other owners of critical infrastructure like Network Rail. We should let farmers get on with managing the land.

'We are absolutely committed to restraining this draconian and bureaucratic power.'