Benn: Engineers need to remedy changing climate

Making Britiain resilient to a changing climate will depend on the engineering sector’s response according to environment secretary Hilary Benn.

Speaking at the joint Defra and Engineering the Future Conference, Mr Benn called on the sector to lead the way in building Britain’s future infrastructure – from transport networks to nuclear power stations to withstand the changes to our climate.

Environment Minister Hilary Benn

“The floods of last month, and the collapse of bridges, show us how much a resilient infrastructure matters. Protecting ourselves against negative impacts, and also taking advantage of the benefits of a changing climate, is all part ofbuilding Britain’s future.

“The UK’s engineering sector is vital to tackling this challenge and is well-placed lead in designing and engineering climate resilient and low carbon infrastructure for global markets, as well as the UK.”

Defra predicts warmer and wetter winters, hotter and drier summers, increased risk of coastal erosion and more severe weather events such as flooding and heat waves.

ICE President and ISSUES principal investigator Paul Jowitt, said: “In the past week we have seen the destruction that infrastructure failure can cause and how dependent we are on the whole infrastructure network. It is crucial that we adapt and develop this network to withstand the inevitable future threats facing it.

“Climate change is not only about reducing emissions – it is one of the biggest threats facing the UK’s infrastructure and will present some major challenges. These challenges will require innovative solutions from the engineering community and joined up thinking with Government. We are confident that by acting now and working together, we can adapt our infrastructure to improve its resilience and reduce our vulnerability to crisis,” he said.

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UK flooding: taste of things to come?

The UK was hit by some of the worst flooding ever recorded in Cumbria and Wales last week, devastating homes and claiming lives.

As concern grows for flood-hit communities in Cumbria and an urgent inspection of the county’s bridges gets underway as more rain is forecast, environment secretary Hilary Benn gave an emergency statement to the Commons. The government has already pledged a £1m fund to local authorities in flood hit areas.

Benn began his statement by paying tribute to PC Barker. He also announced the death of another man – Michael Streeter a contractor for the Environment Agency who died while repairing flood defences in West Sussex.

But the environment minster chose to end his statement with a warning about global warming:

“Although we cannot attribute this particular event to climate change, we can expect to see more extreme weather in the years ahead. This is a future we must prepare for,” he said.

For up to the minute flooding news visit the Guardian’s live blog.