SIR Michael Pitt flood report: “Gloucestershire was unprepared”
That's the view of Sir Michael Pitt, who has today released his final report.
He has spent almost a year on his independent review and has made 92 recommendations.
He said the utility companies had failed to pass on crucial information to the emergency services, making it more difficult for them to handle the crisis.
The whole country, he said, was ill-prepared for the exceptional rainfall that meant thousands of people were forced to move out of their homes. In Tewkesbury borough, there are 79 families still living in caravans and a total of 286 properties still not fully habitable.
In Gloucester and Stroud dozens of homes are also still affected by the flood damage.
Sir Michael said: “The report focuses on the perspective of the victims of flooding – residents, businesses and farmers. All of the 92 recommendations, in some way, impact beneficially on the quality of life for people in flood risk areas.”
Most of what appears in Sir Michael's final report was in his interim report, published in December. Most of the 87 recommendations, including the 15 urgent ones, are largely repeated now.
Sir Michael said there should be a presumption against building in high flood risk areas and developers must make a full contribution to the costs both of building and maintaining any necessary defences.
He felt the Government was right to be spending £800 million per year on flooding and stressed that his recommendations were “reasonable and affordable”.
His report is based on six themes he hopes the Government will give its general support to.
