Flooding highlights the need for better defences

In a manifesto on climate change, the Association of British Insurers (ABI) urged ministers to tackle the consequences as well as the causes of adverse weather patterns.

The industry body called for the annual spend on flood protection measures to rise by 10% to £750 million and sought a commitment that hospitals and schools would be built to cope with the environment of 2050.

Such measures needed to be in place by 2011 for Britain to be prepared for climate change, it said. The ABI also called for energy supplies to be protected against severe weather conditions.

The proposals on the provision of sufficient flood defences followed a recent report from the National Audit Office (NAO) which highlighted the need for an improvement in protection measures.

Weather damage

The ABI's manifesto comes just days after heavy rain caused havoc across large parts of the country.

Damage from last week's storms is expected to cost tens of millions of pounds. The typical insurance claim made by homeowners affected by flooding is £15,000 - £20,000, according to ABI figures.

Stephen Haddrill, director general of the ABI, said: "However successful we are at reducing our carbon footprint now, weather damage will worsen over the next 40 years because of past emissions.

"The Government needs to invest at least £750 million a year in flood defences, and should use the Climate Change Bill and Comprehensive Spending Review to set out an effective climate risk management strategy."

He added: "Insurers remain committed to working with Government and our customers to help manage the consequences of climate change."

Poor maintenance

The Liberal Democrats called for the maintenance of Britain's flood defences to be made a "top priority" after the NAO revealed that only 61% of defences had been maintained to their target conditions.

Their Shadow Environment Secretary, Chris Huhne MP said: "With global warming leading to higher sea levels, it is crucial to maintain Britain's flood defences properly.

"The Environment Agency has not been helped by last year's flood budget cut, thanks to DEFRA's (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) inability to run the Rural Payments Agency properly.

"Cutting funding to flood defences is a completely false economy given the threats from rising sea levels and extreme storms. Fewer than half of high risk flood systems protecting urban areas have been maintained adequately."

Meanwhile, the Met Office has issued a further warning of heavy rainfall moving across the country this week. It said localised flooding was expected, particularly where the ground was already saturated following the recent downpours.