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Flooding probe slams water firm

21/11/2007

A report into this summer's flooding in Hull has accused a water company of failing to act on warnings to reduce the risk posed to local homes.

The independent study, commissioned by the city's council, said it had found "a series of serious issues" with the design, maintenance and operation of Yorkshire Water's pumped drainage system in Hull.

It claims some properties in the Yorkshire city would not have flooded if the company had heeded earlier warnings about the effectiveness of its infrastructure.

However Yorkshire Water has refuted the claim and stressed no drainage system could have coped with the "deluge" experienced in Hull this June.

Today's report says over 8,600 residential properties and over 1,300 businesses in the city were damaged by the flooding.

The study, headed by the University of Hull's professor of physical geography Tom Coulthard, said evidence from a series of reports commissioned by Yorkshire Water showed a number of "clear recommendations" relating to the condition of the city's drainage and pumping systems had been made over an 11-year period prior to the floods.

"For some of these recommendations Yorkshire Water was unable to produce any records of, or confirm action taken, in respect of this advice," the report said.

"We believe that had these recommendations been implemented the impacts of the floods in June 2007 would not have been as severe."

The report was particularly critical of Yorkshire Water's failure to act in regard to its pumping station at Bransholme – which failed during the floods. It confirmed the company was warned in 1996 and 2001 about its "poor condition", but said the company was "unable to confirm that any action was taken in light of these reports".

But responding to the study Yorkshire Water stressed Hull was flooded as a result of "exceptional rainfall" and that it was wrong to suggest homes could have escaped flooding if the company had bigger water pumps.

"The issue is not about building bigger pumps, but of the capacity of the drains and the sewers to cope with the intensity and concentration of the rainfall in these extreme weather events," said a Yorkshire Water spokesperson.

"We cannot pump water if the water cannot get to the pumps because the drains and sewers are full to capacity."

The company spokesperson added a multi-agency approach was required to avoid future flooding in Hull, stating it would be necessary for the city's council and the Environment Agency to develop a strategy for managing surface water drainage in the area.

Commenting on the review, the managing director of household and life at RBS Insurance said it showed there are "serious issues with inadequate and ill-maintained urban drainage systems" in the UK.

"As we have recommended to the government's lessons learned review, the maintenance of all drainage systems within a given area must be put under the authority of a single body in order to prevent this from happening again in the future," Roger Ramsden said.

"There is also a need for stricter imposition of planning controls to ensure that new properties are not built on the flood plain, as well as compulsory adoption of sustainable urban drainage principles to prevent newer developments overloading already-stressed drainage systems."