Flooding (Cumbria)

I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for that important bit of history and for reminding the House that flooding has occurred before and damaged infrastructure. He will be aware from what I have already said that I am acutely conscious of the point that he and other hon. Members have made about the disruption to transport infrastructure. The fact that the Papcastle bridge near Workington is reported to have reopened will offer some relief, given that one bridge has gone and the other is in serious danger. My right hon. Friend the Minister for Regional Economic Development and Co-ordination was briefed on this in her meeting with local authority leaders yesterday, and we will follow that up in the way that I have already indicated. I also echo what the right hon. Gentleman said about the benefit of the flood guard defences. It will not be possible in every case to build a flood defence scheme, but we need to prepare for the future by making our homes more resilient and that is one very good example of how to do it.