Floods: Concerns Budget Cuts May Hit Response

Budget cuts at the Environment Department may affect its ability to deal with emergencies such as the current flooding, MPs have warned.

Some £500m has been cut from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs' (Defra) budget since 2010 and the department is facing further cuts of more than £300m over the next two years.

The damaged promenade in Aberystwyth

Parliament's Environment, Food and Rural Affairs committee says the department's ability to deal with crises such as flooding and the horse-meat scandal must be protected.

The Government has pledged to increase spending on new flood defence schemes to £370m in 2015/2016, with the money ring-fenced.

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Flooded homes in the village of Muchelney in Somerset

However, the Environment Agency, a government body funded by Defra and with a key role in dealing with flooding, is to lose more than 1,500 jobs in the next year.

Committee chairwoman Anne McIntosh said: "Ministers must clarify how further budget cuts over £300m over the next coming two years will impact on the funding provided to these agencies and the ability of the department to respond to emergencies."

She added: "Recent flooding events over the Christmas and New Year period reinforce the committee's concerns about cuts to the Defra budget and how these will be realised."

The Government denies its flood defences will be affected. Environment Minister George Eustice told Sky News: "Within the spending envelope we have been given we have prioritised flood defence spending - £2.3bn in the last spending period and have secured another £2.3bn in the latest budget round to 2021.

Severe weather and flood warnings and alerts are in place across the UK

"While there have been hundreds of properties that have been flooded - and that's a tragedy for those involved and I know it's the worst possible thing that can happen to people over Christmas - there have been hundreds of thousands of homes protected by all the infrastructure and investment we have made in flood defences."

The budget warning comes as the country faces another day of stormy weather and remains at risk of more flooding as heavy rain - combined with hail and thunder - and tidal surges continue to batter the southern and south-eastern coast.

A succession of storms means the rain is falling on already heavily saturated ground and swollen rivers, giving rise to difficult road conditions for motorists and causing delays and cancellations to train services.

A car drives through a flooded road in Burton, Dorset

Flooding in the Somerset Levels has left villages cut off, roads and buildings have been damaged, and waves of up to 27ft have been recorded at Land's End, the most southern tip of the UK.

A flood siren warning of extreme danger to people and property was sounded in Dorset.

The Environment Agency raised the alarm after the sea breached Chesil Beach in Portland, Dorset, on Monday night, following a severe flood warning in the area.

Dorset Police told families to move to an upstairs room facing away from the sea with flood kits.

Anne McIntosh has warned the Government about cuts

Jackie Blakespear, a landlady at The Cove House Inn, described the evacuation and of how 50ft waves crashed over flood defences against the 350-year-old building which she refused to leave.

She told Sky News: "It was a fantastic sight to be fair - scary and exciting all at once. It was very, very scary at some points when the sea actually did come over and hit the pub."

Dorset Police have urged residents to be prepared for flooding and to listen out for the siren which will be sounded again in the event of the sea breaching the beach for the second day running.

A further two severe flood warnings - the highest level of warning - have also been issued by the Environment Agency for nearby Preston Beach and the Lower Stour in Dorset.

Britain has been battered by wind and rain for days

More than 100 flood warnings urging people to be prepared for flooding remain in place across the country, including in Dorset, Oxfordshire, south Wiltshire, Hampshire and along the river Thames, while around 200 low-level alerts have been issued.

Sky News weather presenter Isobel Lang said: "The showers today will be very heavy with hail, thunder and lightning and bring locally torrential downpours especially across western and southern parts worsening the flooding situation.

"However, in terms of high seas and winds the conditions are not as dramatic as yesterday with southwesterly gusts likely to be nearer 50 to 60mph and with less of a tidal surge too."

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