Let me start by wishing everyone a very Happy New Year.
If December is a reflective time when we look back on the year that happened, then January is surely the time to look forward to the year ahead.
While there is no doubt that 2023 is going to be a difficult year, with the cost-of-living crisis very much still with us, we should all make our new year’s resolutions to be that this is the year we tackle the big problems and make the decisions we need to.
Whether they are the personal resolutions to set new goals and do new things for the first time this year, or the bigger issues like real action on climate change, and fixing the NHS. This is a make or break year for action.
It is clear that we need to get to grips with the local consequences of climate change. In December with the heavy snowfall and rain, our infrastructure is struggling to keep up with extreme weather.
Every time there has been a heavy rain for the last few months, a number of pedestrian underpasses across Barnet and Camden have been severely flooded and become unusable, such as in Mill Hill, Colindale, Hendon Central and on the Finchley Road. I’ve spoken with countless schools, residents and businesses about the impact these blockages have on the ability of people to get to where they need to go.
And we aren’t helping ourselves with the way domestic water is supplied across the City. Thames Water tell us that 24% of the domestic water they supply is lost to leakages.
The greater irony of this flooding being that we now spend our summers dealing with scorching heat, droughts, hosepipe bans and problems for agriculture and horticulture. On the hottest day of the year in 2022, residents in West Hampstead were without water for 11 hours.
Carrying on as we are will only lead to greater chaos with ever more roads, pavements, and homes being flooded every year. We now need to take seriously how dilapidated our infrastructure has become, and how ill-equipped we are to deal with climate change and flooding.
The need is now urgent for a plan of action. This plan has to deliver an increase in regular maintenance of waterways and a London-wide project to unblock drains. We need the water companies to take leakages seriously and invest in upgrading the water piping networks. And to save us from ore summer disruption, we need to look at new water storage options.
While the Government remains paralysed by internal rows this seems unlikely, but if this month’s Environment Secretary Therese Coffey wants to think about her new year’s resolutions, she should look further than coming up with a plan of action tackle flooding and water supply.
Anne Clarke is the London Assembly member for Barnet and Camden.
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