Norman Baker MP Member of Parliament for Lewes constituency
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Lewes,
East Sussex,
BN7 2LJ.
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MP puts Treasury Minister under pressure over Lewes flood defences
Lewes MP Norman Baker yesterday met Treasury Minister John Healey to reinforce the case for more money to be made available for flood defences nationwide, but particularly in Lewes.
The meeting, which took place in the Minister's office in the Treasury, follows hard on the heels of the visit to Downing Street by a delegation from Lewes and beyond, to hand in to the Chancellor more than 2000 letters, demanding more action from the Treasury in the area of flood defences.
At the meeting, Norman pointed out that economic models showed that money spent on flood defences produced a return six times greater than if the money were not spent. He also showed the Minister a report from DEFRA, which predicted a shortfall in funding for flood defences of £700m over 15 years.
He also expressed concern that, with DEFRA facing a tight financial settlement and with big bills to pay for the mess created by the Rural Payments Agency, funding for flood works might actually be cut rather than increased, and asked John Healey to ensure that this did not happen.
In return, the Minister confirmed that climate change was one of the government's top priorities, and accepted Norman's point that this had to include money spent on adaptation. He promised he would speak to DEFRA specifically about flood defence funding. He also revealed that the government was looking at other possible ways of funding flood works, which did not involve direct expenditure by central government.
Norman Baker says:
"This was a useful meeting with the Minister. It ties the Treasury directly into flood defence matters, as I have been keen to do, and establishes a proper dialogue on this important issue. The meeting and the delegation that came to Downing Street recently are well timed in that the Treasury is currently negotiating financial settlements with other departments to last for a three-year period. This is therefore the opportune time to apply pressure."