Andrew hosted a roundtable in Parliament this week to discuss how the country better manages flood and drought prevention schemes.
As residents may remember, Andrew was recently elected by cross-party MPs to Chair the All Party Parliamentary Group for Sustainable Flood and Drought Management.
The meeting was attended by representatives from the Association of Drainage Authorities, Internal Drainage Boards, the Country Land and Business Association, the Environment Agency, UK Irrigation Association and other interested parties.
Andrew said, "With climate change making flooding and drought events more common, the UK, in common with countries across the planet, is finding it more and more difficult to balance the need for food production, clean water, and an improved environment from the pressures of increased flooding and drought.
The purpose of our group is to push for sustainable policies and schemes that enable us to better manage flood and drought pressures. Whilst flood protection funding has hit record levels in recent years, simply building up defences will not alone deal with our changing climate.
We need to ensure we have proper integrated solutions that make better use of land to support our aims of protecting us all from flooding and drought, which also supports food protection and protecting our environment.
Our area in particular is very prone to flooding as we are at the end of many major river catchments and are very low lying. That is why, alongside improved defences, we need innovative and sustainable ways of managing water better, including potentially by a proper managed system of storing water on land when necessary but in a way that doesn’t damage farming or the environment.
Myself and our APPG will continue to work to bring all partners together so that we can take a holistic approach to the dual challenges of drought and flooding."
