Energy and Climate Change and Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

In his recent statement on the flooding in Cumbria, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said—I paraphrase him—that one problem was the concreting-over of Britain, not least of people's front drives and gardens. Does my hon. Friend agree with me, and by extension, presumably, the Secretary of State, that local authorities must be given much stricter guidance about when to allow front gardens to be concreted over, as very often that just exacerbates the problem?