IT’S really good that MP Harriett Baldwin is giving such strong support to flooded communities in her constituency, as you reported recently. She has made a real difference since being elected, championing flood protection schemes along the Severn.

What’s not so good is promoting a government policy that will leave thousands of people unable to get or afford insurance against flooding. For that’s the consequence of their decision to leave it to the free market to fix insurance prices.

After more than 12 months of meetings involving a wide range of bodies, including the National Flood Forum, everyone has agreed that flood insurance costs will rocket over the next 10 years unless government intervenes to limit price increases.

This lack of leadership from government will leave thousands of people, particularly the vulnerable on low incomes, unable to afford insurance and trapped in their homes at the mercy of the next flood. Buyers will walk away when they see the cost of insurance. Whole communities will be blighted by the fall in property values this causes.

Even the ABI, the insurance industry’s trade body, recognises that there are severe dangers in a free market.

We at the National Flood Forum are working to persuade government to change its mind and show leadership here. The irony is that solutions have been proposed for risk “pooling” – to even out insurance costs – which involve no public expenditure at all.

But government has rejected them!

So come on, Mrs Baldwin, it’s time to stand up and say that government has got this wrong. There’s time to change the policy before it’s too late. We’ll keep fighting this – and we’d like you to help too!

CHARLES TUCKER,
Chairman, the National Flood Forum, Bewdley