Baroness Jenny Jones AM deems London lucky to escape this time, with 15% of London at risk of flooding. This includes over 200 critical infrastructures, 10 of which are hospitals.
The chair of the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority, James Cleverly agreed that the London Resilience Forum should expand beyond their current emergency risk focus to actions that reduce the potential impacts of extreme weather events. This took place at the London Assembly Plenary meeting on 4th December 2013. The Mayor of London’s environment advisor recently acknowledged that London is likely to experience an “extreme weather event” most probably in the form of a flood from intensive rainfall.
About 680,000 properties (page 15) in London are at risk from surface water flooding. Tidal (sea) and fluvial (river) flooding put 15% of London at risk, including critical infrastructure such as 10 hospitals, 46 police stations, 20 fire stations, 75 tube stations, 49 railway stations, 25 bus depots. If rainfall similar to the 2007 UK floods fell on London, the damage could run into tens of billions (page 31) and loss of life.
Jenny Jones said: “So far London has been lucky to escape the severe weather that is battering parts of the UK this week. We cannot continue to be complacent. I welcome the London Resilient Forum chair’s interest in moving beyond a response orientation to actions that reduce the impacts of extreme weather events.”
“The Mayor of London must start to prioritise climate adaptation measures on a scale that matches the unprecedented extreme weather challenges that London will face in the not so distant future.”
Possible adaptation measures that London Resilience Forum could support:
Surface water flooding
Currently surface water flooding is highlighted as the main flood risk to London. The Mayor rejected Jenny’s call to expand his 15km target of River Restoration, which increases flood storage capacity and cuts local flood risk to properties, to the 100s of kilometres of London Thames tributaries that could be restored. In light of the Mayor’s environment advisor’s views, Jenny has asked the Mayor to review this position.
Sea level rise and new Thames Barrier
Jenny urged the Mayor to look at the latest data on sea level rise projections which indicated a far greater risk of storm surges overwhelming the Thames Barrier. The Mayor said that London is well protected and was reluctant to take a greater leadership role. The existing Thames barrier from conception to delivery took 30 years.
Trees to cut urban heat island effect
To help London adapt to temperature increases the Mayor has a strategic aim of increasing tree canopy cover by 5% by 2025, the equivalent of 2 million extra trees (page 69). It is not clear how this will be achieved with no interim targets, particularly in central London’s built up locations where heat island effect is most pronounced. The Mayor rejected Jenny’s call to consider the ‘Million Trees New York City’ model which delivers 100,000 trees each year, compared to his 10,000 over four years. The London Tree Officers Association warned the Mayor that without additional support London could lose net tree canopy cover by 2025.
Thumbnail image courtesy of Andy Roberts.