In Parliament, I secured a meeting with the Secretary of State for the department of Environment, Food, and Rural affairs to discuss inshore flooding in Fylde.
After I was elected, I fought for a multi-million pound investment on our drains which resulted in the building of the Dock Road pumping station to the east end of Lytham. While this, along with the £22 million investment in our sea defences, has helped alleviate a great deal of flooding, I am worried about the level of inland flooding we saw across Fylde last month.
After making representations to our flood authorities, I took the matter up with the Secretary of State and he agreed to meet with me in the coming weeks.
We need investment in several areas – in our outfalls to the Ribble Estuary, in the overland drains which need better maintenance, and in our drainage system which is archaic in some areas.
Lancashire County Council, United Utilities and the Environment Agency have launched several investigations to pinpoint these issues, and also to identify areas where improvements can be made as quickly as possible.
This week saw us commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Britain with Battle of Britain Day.
It is hard to mark such occasions, given the precautions we all must take at present – and I thank you all for adhering to the new ‘rule of six’ guidelines. Tuesday marked the anniversary of the day when RAF Fighter Command won a decisive victory over the German Luftwaffe and turned the tide of the war. Previously, Germany were looking at invading the British Isles – the Battle of Britain put paid to any idea of that, leading Churchill to his famous speech: “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.”
Our Armed Forces have my total support and I took a moment to thank not only the heroes who saved us back then, but every member of the RAF who have kept us safe ever since – including the crews who fly our Eurofighter Typhoons out of Warton.