MP Joy Morrissey has asked questions on whether Marlow will be well equipped for flooding when the winter months arrive.
Speaking at the House of Commons on October 16, the American asked Parliamentary Under Secretary of State and DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs) board member Rebecca Pow on what their plans were if adverse weather conditions were to hit the country.
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The MP for Marlow and Beaconsfield said: “The beautiful town of Marlow sits adjacent to the Thames and is also on a flood-plain.
“How can my Right Honourable friend assure the House that we will be fit for the future when it comes to flood defences?”
Because of the heavy rain in the winter months, Higginson Park, as well as houses along the town’s stretch of the Thames, are usually flooded.
At the start of this year, flooding in the park became so bad that large parts of it were closed as a result of Storm Dennis.
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Rebecca Pow’s response to Marlow’s MP was: “I’d like to give her every assurance that we’ve been working extremely hard on this.
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“The Government has actually doubled its funding in the next Flood Defence Programme to £5.2billion, more than ever before, which will better protect 336,000 properties.
“In the summer, we also allocated £170million to shovel-ready flood defence projects.
“We’ve got another £200million for some innovative projects, because we realise that the demands are changing with climate change; and that’s why our new flood policy statement that the Secretary of State and I worked on, sets out a holistic approach to tackling this changing canvass, and nature-based solutions also will be a big part of that.”
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