Chesterfield MP Toby Perkins presses the constituency's case for flood defence funding.
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00:00Toby Perkins, Chair of the Environment Board Thank you very much Mr Speaker. My Honourable
00:06Friend and the Secretary of State deserve great credit for attracting the large investment
00:11that has come. But once they've finished the lap of honour, they will be aware that this
00:16is literally just the first step up the mountain. She's absolutely right that the Government
00:20have inherited flood defences in an appalling state. The latest estimates are that as many
00:25as six million houses are at risk of flooding. I also call on her to get on with the flood
00:31improvements we demand in Chesterfield. But can she tell us more about how she's going
00:35to make sure that first of this money gets spent wisely and secondly that the Treasury
00:40understand that this is not a one year commitment, but something we're going to need for the
00:43rest of this term?
00:44I thank my Honourable Friend and can I also say Mr Speaker, congratulate my Honourable
00:50Friend on his recent engagement. He's absolutely right to point out about the importance of
00:58money being spent saves money. I think a couple of interesting facts is for every £1 we spend
01:03on maintenance of flood defences actually saves £13 when it comes to that damage prevented.
01:09And for building new defences for every £1 we spend, it's £5 spent in preventing damage.
01:15So these are important statistics that I tend to use frequently with the Treasury in future
01:20negotiations and spending reviews.