Flood defence projects on hold

Flood defence schemes have been postponed due to government funding cutbacks, it is being claimed today.

The Environment Agency says it will need to spend £750m a year over the next three years to protect areas threatened by floods.

The amount offered by the government falls short, meaning a number of projects have been put on hold.

These include a £100m scheme for Leeds, and plans to replace York's defences, which have been deemed inadequate.

The limited funding comes despite insurers, the National Audit Office and the Environment Agency warning that more spending on flood defences is needed.

Andrew Waller, a member of the Environment Agency's north-east region flood defence committee said: "We need to be spending a lot more than we are now.

"Flood defence spending is not keeping pace with increased demand for flood defences due to climate change.

"We will end up with a situation where more and more areas are not being covered."

In fact, the Environment Agency estimates that it needs £150m a year over the next ten years just to bring its existing assets up to standard.

Tim Kersley, head of asset management at the agency, said it is doing a lot with its funding.

But he said flood protection needs are increasing over and above the budget increases it has received.

He said: "All commentators agree we need more funding to adequately protect the community.

"We currently invest about £500m per year on flood risk management. Over the next three years we need to spend three-quarters of a billion per year."

"As the impacts of climate change bites we will need to spend nearer £1bn per year."

To deal with climate change by 2010, with inflation, the agency needs to invest £750m a year on flood risk management, the Environment Agency says.

Leeds: Environment Agency said no to Leeds flood defences

A vital £100m flood defence plan to protect Leeds city centre was shelved by the Environment Agency only six months ago, it has been revealed - according to the Yorkshire Evening Post.

The scheme would have seen a series of defences built along the River Aire to protect businesses and residents from exactly the kind of heavy rainfall which struck on Monday.

The project was under development by the Environment Agency for a number of years before being shelved in January for at least three years due to financial pressures.

It would have included "washland or flood storage areas" further upstream of the river.

Meanwhile, a separate scheme to protect Wakefield residents from the waters of Ings Beck, a tributary of the River Calder, was also "delayed indefinitely" earlier this year, it has emerged.

The revelations came as opposition parties in Parliament said the government has slashed flood protection budgets and ignored warnings that defences were inadequate.

Details of the ditched Leeds city centre flood defence scheme were revealed in an urgent email sent yesterday by Leeds City Council to MPs.

Leeds East Labour MP George Mudie swiftly raised the issue in the Commons chamber.

The email, sent by Louise Tonkinson, the council's acting head of corporate communications, warned that the ditched plan was to "identify and build defences in some of the city's worst at-risk areas".

She also revealed that the council was "urgently seeking information" about the progress of a flood defence scheme for Wyke Beck in the east of the city.

More the 30 households had to be evacuated due flooding from the beck on Monday - it is the third time in just over three years that it is flooded.

Mr Mudie questioned Environment Secretary David Miliband, as the cabinet minister delivered an emergency statement on the devastating flooding in Yorkshire and the Midlands.

Mr Mudie asked: "Can the minister review the decision of the Environment Agency to shelve the £100m scheme which was designed to protect Leeds city centre?

"Could he also ask the Environmental Agency to expedite the Wyke Beck scheme in my constituency which will help alleviate flooding in an area which has been flooded three times in three years to the great distress of hundreds of people?"

Mr Miliband said Mr Mudie had made "an important point" and pledged to "take up those issues with the environment agency and write to him as soon as possible".

Leeds city council is to meet the Environment Agency next month to demand that the protection plans are put back on the table.

Council leader Mark Harris "Whilst this scheme would not have prevented much of the flooding in other areas of the city, it would have protected people and businesses from flooding in the city centre.

"We have got to have an effective scheme in place to protect people and businesses from flooding."

Meanwhile, Wakefield Labour MP Mary Creagh also revealed a crucial flood protection scheme had also been shelved in her constituency.

She said: "In January I received a letter from the local Environment Agency informing me that the Flood Alleviation Scheme for Ings Beck, a tributary of the River Calder, would be delayed indefinitely. It was supposed to be completed earlier this year."

She added: "Wakefield is now flooded for the second time in two weeks, many A-roads are affected, the East Coast Mainline is shut, and the M1 and the M62 motorways are both greatly affected as they follow the path of the rivers Calder, the Aire and Hebble that run through my constituency."

Leeds: Fresh call for city flood defence

Council chiefs are to call for a £100m flood defence scheme in West Yorkshire to be resurrected following the recent severe weather.

The Leeds scheme was shelved three years ago by the Environment Agency, which said it was too costly.

On Monday parts of the city centre were flooded, causing the railway station and several roads to close.

Council leader Mark Harris said he was worried about the effect of further flooding on the city's economy.

He said: "Last night, many parts of the city's central area were flooded for the first time in living memory.

"The train station was closed and severe traffic disruption had a major impact on business continuity as well as putting city centre shoppers, workers and residents at risk."

The Environment Agency had planned to build defences along the River Aire, which flows through the city centre.

Mr Harris said: "This recent flood event has only served to underline the need for this scheme to be brought back on track urgently.

"The recent flooding was unique and unprecedented.

"Whilst this scheme would not have prevented much of the flooding in other areas of the city, it would have protected people and businesses from flooding in the city centre.

"Floods can have a serious impact on the city's economy and infrastructure and we cannot have a situation where the city centre, which is the heart of the city's economic performance, is being put at risk."

Mr Harris said he planned to meet with the chief executive of the Environment Agency next month to request that the scheme go ahead.

Lambeth: 'Chilling' plans for the elderly

A hospital boss has criticised a council's plan to restrict care provision to elderly and disabled people - reports ICSouthLondon.

Patricia Moberly, chair-woman of Guys and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, has described Labour-run Lambeth's plan to restrict care to people in critical need as "chilling".

She said: "We have been trying over the years to make things better for vulnerable people in our society.

"It's much better for people to be looked after at home.

"The potential of these cuts is actually quite chilling."

Under the plan, elderly and disabled people in "substantial need" of care would no longer receive support services from the council.

The council also plans to ramp up care charges for things like home help from £7.55 to £17.50 per hour. It would see the council make a profit out of the service.

The plans met with a massive backlash when they were published this year.

Around 450 pensioners, disabled people and carers marched on Lambeth Town Hall in protest.
The backlash forced the council to extend a consultation into the proposals prior to their implementation.

A decision will be made next month whether or not to press ahead with the plans.

Ms Moberly made her comments at a meeting of Lambeth's health and adult services scrutiny committee on Wednesday night.

Other health professionals also slammed the strategy.

King's College Hospital stakeholder relations manager Phil Bollman said: "It seems to me that this will only shift care back to the hospitals and have an impact on care. People will end up stuck in hospital blocking beds."

Lambeth's cabinet member for health and adult services Councillor Donatus Anyanwu insisted efforts had been made to try to avoid the proposed cuts. But he warned Lambeth did not have the cash to prevent them.

He said: "We can't invent money, we can't make money. We can't rob some other area to pay for these services."

However, the government could afford to give Lambeth a bigger grant to maintain these services without cuts or increases in fees charged to vulernable people if it wasn't planning to gift an extra £2.5 billion a year to the audit-failing EU ... despite the EU's on-going failure for twelve years now to explain how the "majority" of its money is being spent.

So how is local MP Kate Hoey going to vote, when the EU budget deal comes up in Parliament for approval? In favour of lavishing billions more pounds on the EU without justification? Or in favour of saving public money from waste and its investment in better local services instead?

Council tax 'doubles in 10 years'

The average council tax bill has almost doubled in the past decade, according to a report by the Halifax building society.

The rise, from more £550 to almost £1,100, is three times higher than the rate of inflation and twice the increase in average earnings.

The tax is now 91% higher than when Tony Blair first took office.

The Local Government Association (LGA), which represents councils in England and Wales, has dismissed the report as a rehash of old information.

Corin Thomson, LGA's programme director, said councils needed the extra money to cope with "major environmental challenges" and the care needs of an ageing population.

"Council tax is being put under huge strain over recent years as authorities are having to deal with massive social and economic change," Ms Thomson said.

Average earnings have increased by 51% over the past 10 years and retail price inflation has risen by 31%.

The typical UK household now has to pay £1,078 in council tax annually, compared with £564 in the 1997/98 financial year.

Martin Ellis, chief economist with Halifax, said that councils had made smaller increases in recent years because of the anger surrounding the steep rises since the later 1990s.

He said: "Councils may well turn round and say well that's because they're providing better services.

"But we're just highlighting the point that there's been a big, big increase and certainly much sharper than the increase in either prices or average earnings.

"And this is taking more and more of peoples' disposable income. We have seen, to be fair to councils in the last couple of years, we have seen smaller increases more in line with retail prices in the last couple of years.

"So I think they are taking note of what's been happening and the sort of level of discontent that there's been with the big increases."

Figures show that more than half of all districts have experienced at least a doubling in council tax bills since 1997.

Anna Pearson, Policy Manager at Help the Aged, said many older people on low incomes frequently went without basic essentials to pay their council tax.

"When you compare council tax rises with the meagre rise in the basic state pension, you can see why pensioners are having to deprive themselves of basic necessities to get by.

"In the fifth richest country in the world that is nothing short of appalling.", she said.

But why isn't the extra money councils say they need to provide services coming from central government? That shortfall is what's causing councils to put extreme tax pressure on local people who can't afford to pay more.

Dare we suggest that too much central government money is being wasted elsewhere, such as on contributions to the EU budget - billions of which are frittered by the EU on empty buildings or even simply lost through fraud?

Meanwhile council tax continues to rise and MPs are set to vote an extra £2.5bn a year for the EU. Contact your MP to make sure they vote against that EU budget deal when it comes before Parliament for approval.

Manchester: Trusts fail hygiene targets

Seven NHS trusts in Greater Manchester are failing to meet key targets aimed at tackling bugs like MRSA, reports the Manchester Evening News.

Manchester Primary Care Trust, North Cheshire Hospitals and Stockport PCT all failed to show they are meeting two hygiene standards.

Trafford PCT, Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale PCT, Bury PCT and Warrington PCT had not met, or cannot provide enough evidence to prove they are meeting the standards.

Standards include properly decontaminating reusable medical devices, such as theatre instruments.

Nationally, one in four NHS trusts are failing to hit the minimum standards for hygiene.

The news comes just weeks after the Healthcare Commission warned that failing hospitals will be served with `improvement notices'.

Today's report, issued by the Commission, is based on trusts self-reporting on whether they meet a set of 24 core government standards on care.

A total of 55 trusts including Manchester PCT and North Cheshire Hospitals had not met, or could not prove they met the standard on keeping patients safe by reducing the risk from infections like Clostridium difficile.

Forty-three trusts, including Stockport PCT and Warrington PCT, had not met, or had no data to show they met the standard on areas being clean and buildings being in good order.

A spokesperson for Manchester PCT said: "Achieving compliance is an on-going priority for the PCT.

"We have allocated additional resources and put action plans in place to ensure progress is made and monitored in those areas where we did not declare full compliance this year."

NHS 'hygiene standards struggle'

The BBC reports today that NHS trusts in England are struggling to meet key hygiene standards, according to data submitted to the NHS watchdog.

A quarter of the trusts report they are not complying with one of the three standards relating to the hygiene code, covering areas including cleanliness.

A spokesman for Patient Concern said: "This is terrible. It is bad news for patients and shows trusts are not getting the basics right."

In total there are , covering everything from clinical effectivness to governance.

England's 394 trusts self-declare how they are doing against 24 core NHS standards, which then help determine their overall NHS rating.

The Healthcare Commission now has to verify the data by cross-checking the information against its own intelligence, audits and surveys by other organisations and through a system of targeted spot-checks.

Trusts did best in meeting standards covering professional codes of practice, whistle-blowing and openness.

There was also a rise in the number of trusts reporting they met the two standards relating to compliance with the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, which issues advice on new treatments.

But with the three standards that relate to hygiene, compliance had fallen.

In particular, on reducing the risk of infection, 14% said they had failed, up from 7% last year.
A similar number said they could not say they decontaminated equipment properly - up from 12.6%.

TRUSTS FAILING ALL HYGIENE STANDARDS

Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust
Sheffield Primary Care Trust
Sutton and Merton Primary Care Trust
Wiltshire Primary Care Trust

Over one in 10 did not meet cleanliness standards either.

It meant that 99 trusts - one in four of the total - were not meeting the hygiene code.

Flood defences 'lack maintenance'

Homes and businesses in England may be at risk of flooding because the Environment Agency is not doing enough, a watchdog has said.

The National Audit Office (NAO) said the agency had not met its target of maintaining 63% of the country's flood defences in peak condition.

MPs called on the agency to explain why less than half of England's high risk defences were found in peak condition.

The watchdog found large regional differences in the proportion of defences in high risk areas which were at peak condition - from 18% in the South West to 60% in the South.

There were also big differences in the money spent on maintaining the defences.

The NAO report said the agency had taken on greater responsibility for flood risk in England, including the management of important rivers.

The agency had protected more people by improving the standard of flood protection for 100,000 homes between 2003/04 and 2005/06, the watchdog said.

However, it said since 2001 the general condition of defences had not improved significantly.

The all-party committee of MPs, the Public Accounts Committee, said more money should go towards "protecting towns and cities, rather than empty fields".

The Environment Agency has estimated that it would need an extra £150m a year to bring all flood defence systems up to their peak condition.

MPs must be challenged to explain where this much-need extra investment is going to come from, before they can offer any justification for an intention to approve the EU budget deal and vote billions of pounds extra a year to a wasteful body like the EU.

Elderly people's lives 'worsen'

More than one-fifth of elderly people feel they are living in poverty, a Help the Aged survey has suggested - according to the BBC.

Of 1,095 adults questioned, 28% said their quality of life had got worse in the last 12 months, while 93% said their lives had not improved.

The charity said the findings were "outrageous" and called for a clear commitment to end pensioner poverty.

Around half of over 65-year-olds fail to claim the benefits they are entitled to, the survey also found.

Help the Aged said that its report, Spotlight on older people in the UK, brought to light issues faced by vulnerable older people, including poverty, neglect and ageism.

A total of 13% of those surveyed said they were lonely and rarely left the house.

The study, the second annual report from Help the Aged, suggested 21% of elderly people lived in poverty and rising fuel bills made life a daily struggle.

It includes testimonies from a woman in her late seventies who says her quality of life is nil, a woman aged 87 who says she never leaves the house, and an old man who thinks a tin of soup is a luxury to eke out over two days.

Paul Cann, director of policy at the charity, said: "Far from being people's twilight years, this report shows the reality of growing older in the UK is much darker.

"It is absolutely outrageous that people's lives are getting worse or not improving as they get older."

The charity said with the number of people aged 65 years and older set to rise by nearly 60% in the next 25 years, there was no excuse for the government or anyone else to be oblivious of the issues.

Burton: MP's vow over post office axe

Uttoxeter's MP says she will do "everything in her power" to make sure vital Post Office services are not lost, reports the Burton Mail.

Labour's Janet Dean also accused Tory MP hopeful Andrew Griffiths of "scaremongering" after he claimed four Post Offices would be axed in East Staffordshire.

Mrs Dean spoke out as the Government confirmed 2,500 branches will close in the next 18 months in an effort to plug a deficit now running at £4 million a week.

Mrs Dean said: "There are no local quotas - we do not know how many, if any, will be closed in Burton or Uttoxeter. It's scaremongering.

"Mr Griffiths is clearly going on the average. He has taken the figure of 2,500 and divided it by the number of constituencies. If there are closures announced, and people object, I will try to ensure they stay open or there are alternatives in place.

"I will do everything in my power to stand up for the people and speak out on their behalf.

However, will that "everything" include voting against the blatant waste of extra billions that the government wants to hand over to the EU - which could be used to increase subsidies to struggling local post offices instead?

MPs like Janet Dean can't get away with the hypocrisy of claiming to be standing up for public services in local newspapers, but when safely back in Westminster voting billions of pounds away to an audit-failing organisation like the EU without any justification.

Loss-making but 'lifeline' post offices need subsidies to survive. If there's not enough money to maintain a proper network, MPs who vote to waste public cash must accept the blame.

Redhill: Call for Prime Minister to safeguard hospital

Cuts to hospitals across the area are putting dangerous pressure on East Surrey Hospital, says a former paramedic who is campaigning to save services - reports the Surrey Mirror.

Ken Callanan spoke to the Mirror after delivering a 112,754-strong petition to 10 Downing Street on Saturday.

The petition urges Prime Minister Tony Blair to safeguard the county's accident and emergency (A&E) departments,maternity and paediatric units.

And Mr Callanan said that East Surrey Hospital, in Redhill, was being put under huge strain by Government cuts at other hospitals, particularly after Crawley Hospital's A&E was downgraded.

He said: "My main concern from the point of view of East Surrey is that the hospital is under a lot of extra pressure because it has to treat people who previously would have been treated at Crawley Hospital.

"I have had phone calls and e-mails from nursing staff and a doctor from East Surrey who say that since the A&E at Crawley was downgraded and the maternity unit was transferred [last year] it has put a lot of pressure on them. It's very unfair on staff at East Surrey."

A&E services at that hospital, The Royal Surrey,in Guildford, St Peter's at Chertsey, and Frimley Park are all under review.

Mr Callanan fears more A&E departments, maternity and paediatric units could shut or be downgraded.

Cornwall: Fire crews use coffin to highlight closure risks

A symbolic black coffin was carried through the streets of Truro as a stark warning that people will die if cuts are made to the fire service in Falmouth and Camborne - reports the Falmouth Packet.

The shocking imagery was used as part of a protest march involving hundreds of fire fighters, who were campaigning against proposals to cut 24-hour fire cover at the Falmouth and Camborne stations.

Firemen from Falmouth and Camborne were joined by colleagues from across the south west, as far as Gloucestershire, Somerset and the West Midlands, as well as members of the public in the march from Union Place to Lemon Quay last Thursday (May 31).

Many were carrying placards and posters drawing attention to the proposed closures by Cornwall county council.

The council wants to end overnight staffing at Camborne and Falmouth, the county's only stations that are manned around the clock, in order to balance a budget shortfall across the whole of the council.

However, removing the full-time overnight fire fighters from the stations would increase the time taken for the engine to reach a fire by dangerous levels - possibly up to seven or eight minutes longer.

The plans have been opposed by the Fire Brigades' Union, which led the rally through Truro. The union has said the move would lead to an increased likelihood of injuries.

Sean Taylor, Fire Brigade Union representative for the fire headquarters in Truro, said: "The bottom line is that council tax payers, when they dial 999 and ask for a fire engine all they want is for a fire engine to turn up with qualified firemen onboard.

"With what the county council are proposing that won't be guaranteed. If you take fire engines out the equation lives are going to be lost" he added.

The march took place on the same day as members of the county council's scrutiny committee met to discuss the draft Fire Brigade Service Plan 2007/2010, which is aimed at ensuring that every council service uses its resources effectively. The plan includes the proposals to cut the 24-hour cover.

Chief fire officer Matt Littmoden said: "One of the objectives included in the plan is changing the emergency cover provision at Falmouth and Camborne fire stations. Fire fighters would no longer be on station 24 hours a day. Full time fire fighters would be at the station during the day and at night time retained fire fighters would provide the emergency cover. I have had to recommend this objective because I had to make savings.

"The downgrading of Falmouth and Camborne is purely a consequence of the budget and it is the least worst option" he added.

Hertfordshire: Fire service 'at breaking point'

A leading firefighter has warned resources in Hertfordshire are now at "breaking point" following cuts and closures across the county - reports the Watford Observer.

Tony Smith, secretary of Herts Fire Brigade Union, has spoken out against Hertfordshire County Council's decision to close Radlett and Bovingdon fire stations last year and warned more cuts to the service would leave it dangerously short.

He said: "Our chief says there are going to be more cuts coming. The cracks are starting to show because the cuts have been too deep and it is time to bring back those two stations and invest something in the service."

Figures released by the county council this week show on top of fires within the county border, Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue services attended 852 incidents in neighbouring counties between July and December last year.

Crews from neighbouring counties were called into Hertfordshire 171 times.

However, the county council maintains the number of call-outs is decreasing with crews in Hertfordshire attending 15,971 incidents in 2001/2, compared to 12,460 call-outs last year.

However, on Tuesday a petition containing a signature from almost every resident in Radlett was delivered to the county council demanding the village station reopen.

Stephen Oakes-Monger, of Park Road, Radlett spent two months knocking on every door in Radlett collecting almost 7,000 signatures.

The 48-year-old said: "It is an overwhelming condemnation of the county council's decision to close the fire station."

In the past two months there have been four fires in Radlett. And in March, an aerial ladder platform had to be called from Luton to attend a fire in The Heath, but took so long that the blaze was out before it arrived.

It is also alleged that, on at least one occasion, crews coming from across the county could not find their way to the fires in the village.

Deadly NHS bug 'underestimated'

The BBC is reporting that thousands of cases of the hospital bug Clostridium difficile have remained hidden due to a requirement to only report cases affecting people over 65 years old.

A government suveillance scheme has required hospitals to submit numbers of cases of C difficile in people over 65 since 2004. But only since April this year must cases among all patients be included in the reports.

MP Grant Shapps obtained data from 171 NHS trusts in England, which showed there have been an extra 26,000 cases on top of the 176,450 infections reported.

C difficile is linked to twice as many deaths as MRSA, and, unlike the so-called superbug, C difficile infection rates are still on the rise. In 2006 they rose by 8% on the previous year to 55,000 infections.

A spokesman for the Department of Health said: "There is no room for complacency.

"We are clear - one avoidable infection is one too many and we are determined to ensure that the NHS has in place good hygiene and clinical procedures

How determined exactly? Are sufficient funds being invested to provide better cleaning procedures - and could it be more if the government weren't instead planning to waste billions of pounds extra on the EU?

The government might think it can get away with such poor judgement of priorities with public money. But how will MPs who vote to approve this unjustified increase in payments to the EU explain their choice to local voters who have been affected by this dangerous bug?

Especially if it's clear that more could have been done to prevent deaths, had more resources been made available.