Warning on flood vulnerability

18 March 2010
Bridges in the UK are vulnerable to flooding, an agency has warned

An agency has warned the Government that floods of the scale of the one in Cumbria last autumn could destroy thousands of bridges in the country.

The UK Roads Liaison Group submitted a written memorandum to the House of Commons Transport Committee stressing on the need to focus more on the flood risk of roads and bridges.

The group's UK roads board chairman Matthew Lugg said that increasing number of severe weather related incidents in the country had to be taken into consideration while doing a bridge-strength assessment.

The group's written submission said: "There are thousands of bridges around the country that would be vulnerable to similar extreme weather events."

Cumbria witnessed widespread bridge and road damage during the heavy floods that were caused by severe rainfall last November.

Michael Winter, chairman of the bridges group of the Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning and Transport, told MPs: "In hindsight we should have been more focused on the flood risk."

The Department for Transport has recommended local authorities to spend around 20% to 30% of the highway allocation fund on bridges.

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