Last month, in common with many parts of the country, rivers and waterways in South Shropshire including the Severn, Teme, Corve and Worfe broke their banks in places. For some poor households affected by the rising flood waters, this was the second time in 12 months they had flooded, including some of those I visited in the immediate aftermath of Storm Henk.

2023 was not only the warmest year on record globally, but here in the UK we also saw higher levels of rainfall, more persistently from September to December. This followed a year of unusual drought conditions in 2022. 

This goes to show climate change is impacting us here in South Shropshire, and highlights the importance of managing water resources and treatment, to ensure safe drinking supply, stewardship of our waterways, as well as ensuring we have good treatment to reduce risks from our sewage systems being overwhelmed, as they have been.

Managing our water systems is a topic on which I have focussed during my time in Parliament since the last General Election and as Chairman of the Environmental Audit Committee. Last month I hosted an event in Parliament for the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management, which was launching its new independent review “A Fresh Water Future”, with recommendations for the next government, of whatever complexion, to maintain improvement of water infrastructure and regulation high up the agenda.

I have also been supporting my neighbouring MPs in our River Severn Caucus to seek government support for a holistic catchment wide response to manage flooding of the River Severn valley, to manage excessive rain levels from the Welsh hills through to the Severn Estuary. This is an ambitious £500m set of measures, which would help communities across Shropshire by reducing the flow of water, and the risk of localised flooding. 

I am also pleased to be able to report by the end of December the government was able to announce that all Combined Sewer Overflows and treatment works were now fitted with event duration monitors (only 7% had them installed in 2010 - now 100%) so that comprehensive data will now be available to water companies, their regulators, and the public when sewage spills occur. This was something I was determined to push through in my Private Members Bill on sewage pollution, which the government then picked up in the Environment Act 2021. While I warmly welcome this progress, the key is to upgrade our water infrastructure to prevent sewage spills damaging aquatic life in our waterways in the first place.

To that end, the Government has a 25-year Plan for Water, under which water companies are together developing plans which amount to £96bn of investment over the next 5 years, once approved by Ofwat. Severn Trent is at the forefront, having pledged a record £12.9bn investment, with improvement of at least 562 storm overflows, as they try to meet the Government's target five years early.

Looking around at the impact of Storm Henk last month, it was clear the impact would not only be for households and business, but also for farmers whose fields had been submerged, with grants up to £25,000 to farmers whose land had flooded and damaged crops. There has also been recent progress in bringing water management more holistically into the wider DEFRA support mechanisms for agriculture, with the latest iteration of the Sustainable Farming Incentive published in January including 15 new measures to help farmers manage water flows and reduce the impact of farming practices on water courses and nature.

There is also further government support available for homes and businesses, provided certain thresholds are met. I raised Shropshire’s case with the Flooding Minister in the House of Commons last month, to seek to ensure the Flood Recovery Framework scheme is activated in Shropshire. In order to do so, it is vital that for any floods in in South Shropshire every homeowner affected informs Shropshire Council if their home or business has been flooded.

Flooding is a terrible experience for anyone who has to live through it, and it is right that we do what we can to mitigate the impacts and adapt to reduce the risk for those communities where it is becoming increasingly likely as climate change becomes a reality.