Energy and Climate Change and Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right, and I know the estate that he is talking about. It flooded as it was being built, and then an application was put in to build 100 more houses on that very site. The second bit of the building application has not gone through, but the first did. I am not willing at this stage to lay too much blame at the door of the local authorities. They know what happens. The hon. Member for Bassetlaw (John Mann) is smiling, but I remind him that no party has overall control of the Tewkesbury authority—I think that that is what he is getting at. Planning policy statement 25 is insufficient. It says that authorities should not build in flood-risk areas unless this or that is the case, but it is far too weak a document to provide the protection that we need.