Newport  West AM Rosemary Butler has welcomed a new Welsh Assembly flood protection strategy which is based on the number of people affected rather than house values. And she urged the Assembly Government to make flood protection a main feature in current discussions about a Severn Barrage.

At Question Time she asked for an update on the Assembly Government's measures to tackle climate change and told Environment Minister Carywn Jones that she was worried about possible flooding on the Gwent Levels if sea levels rise as result of global warming. She asked him for his views on the use of the barrage as a flood protection measure.

"It is important to highlight the huge importance of the inclusion of flood prevention in that scheme, as well as the benefits that will be gained in the production of renewable energy", she said.

Mr Jones told her that if there are flood protection advantages to be gained from the Severn Barrage they should be considered and implemented if the Severn Barrage goes ahead. As for the question of who gets flood protection, a working group headed by Tamsin Dunwoody AM and Huw Lewis AM had recommended that the number of people affected should be more important than the value of properties.

"We inherited a system where flood defences were allocated according to the price of houses. So five very large houses would have a flood defence and fifteen terraced houses in the Valleys perhaps would not. We all took the view that that was quite wrong."

Mrs Butler welcomed the change of policy.

Wednesday, February 7