We need a Dutch-style Delta plan to stem the tide of floods

With each new deluge the UK learns nothing, unlike the Netherlands, which has adapted to the changing nature of the threat

The Guardian, Henk van Klaveren, Sunday 27 December 2015

York city centre is covered by floodwater after the River Ouse bursts its
 banks. Photograph: Joe Giddens/PA

When more than 1,800 people died in the wake of the 1953 North Sea flood in the Netherlands, the national reaction was: never again. The resulting Delta programme to close off the south-western river delta from the sea was so bold that its name became synonymous with dealing with a crisis. If an issue needs a major response, you can be sure that a Dutch politician will call for a “Delta plan to tackle X”. It is time that the UK took some of that attitude and got a Delta plan to tackle flooding.

Flooding has become an almost annual event in the UK. We are waiting for the next storm and flash flood to hit, with another group – or even the same group – of people evacuated, all followed by the promise of some money for a bit of flood defence work. As a nation, we can no longer afford to accept that. Consider the personal misery for those affected, even in areas not traditionally flood-prone like Manchester and Leeds. Consider that the financial cost of these events will continue to rise – and not only for the government. Every home insurance policy now includes a £10.50 Flood Re levy to subsidise insurance for homes with a high risk of flooding.

With the climate changing and becoming more volatile, we can expect heavier rain and more severe storms. Water management systems in the UK, and in particular in England, are unable to deal with what lies ahead.

After almost every flood, journalists and policymakers go to the Netherlands to learn how they are adapting to climate change and what lessons there are for the UK. We see Dutch projects in the news, such as a neighbourhood with floating homes that forms part of a major national programme to create space for the rivers. But those lessons never seem to be taken on board. Come the next flood, off they all go to Holland again.

For the Dutch, water management goes to the core of their national identity. The country was forged in the battle against water. This common fight led to the pooling of resources and decision-making in regional water authorities – among the oldest democratic institutions in the world – which continue that work today. The national habit of consensus decision-making in tackling major issues became known internationally in the 90s as the “polder model”, echoing its water-based roots. No Dutch politician wants to be part of the generation that fails in the common endeavour against water, and no voter would accept someone caught sleeping on their watch.

The Netherlands has adapted to the changing nature of the threat. Today, the biggest danger is not the sea swallowing the land but the rain overwhelming it. The main focus no longer is building higher dykes and bigger dams, like they did after the 1953 flood. Instead, the Dutch have spent the past decade deepening and widening rivers, creating new side canals that provide extra capacity, and setting aside land as dedicated flood plains. This €2.3bn (£1.7bn) project is still ongoing. All this so that when the water does come, the swollen rivers can expand without flooding homes and causing misery.

In Britain, we need to start to realise and accept that flooding is becoming an equally existential issue. There can be no northern powerhouse or sustainable prosperity anywhere if it risks being swept away by the rain. That message is not always clear in Westminster, where the focus is on the quick fix today. The polder model feels far away from the much more combative nature of Westminster – and from Holyrood and Cardiff, too.

We need a Dutch-style national response in the UK, with the necessary funding. The British landscape demands it even more than the Dutch flat countryside. With heavy rainfall flowing down the hills into lower-lying areas, those places need investment in rivers and landscapes able to absorb that water, transport it away from homes quickly or temporarily store it on empty flood plains. We need to stop building in at-risk areas, setting those places aside as buffers to protect existing homes. When and wherever we build, we need to think about how we manage water in that area.

This will require some tough decisions and difficult public debates. The respective environment agencies in England, Scotland and Wales have much of the expertise, but need the political will and funding. A start would be a UK Delta plan. But first the prime minister and the first ministers of Scotland and Wales must truly resolve: “never again”.

The Eastern Scheldt storm surge barrier (Oosterscheldekering) in Vrouwenpolder,

The Netherlands (AFP Photo/Bas Czerwinski)

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