Flood workers absent due to assault fears - MP

Flood workers are not being deployed because they have not completed training on how to avoid assaults by angry residents, an MP has said.

Layla Moran told the House of Commons the Environment Agency (EA) had declined to attend flooding in south Abingdon, Oxfordshire.

She said: "Surely the best way to help angry residents is to be there and help them in their hour of need."

Environment Secretary Steve Reed said he would raise the issue with the EA. The agency said flood protection was its top priority.

The Liberal Democrat MP for Oxford West and Abingdon said her constituents near the River Ock had already experienced flooding twice this year.

She told MPs on Monday: "I cannot imagine what they must be feeling. When I visited them in September, they reported feeling very alone."

Moran added that a promised flood defence and sandbags had not materialised.

She said: "When we asked the EA today whether it would be on the ground, it told us that it could not send enough people - not because it did not have the staff or the money, but because not enough of them had completed a workplace assessment and training on how not to be assaulted by angry residents.

"Of course staff safety is everything and Environment Agency workers deserve our thanks, but surely an element of common sense needs to be applied."

Her office clarified that assault incidents had been reported elsewhere, not in Abingdon.

It said: "EA officers are only insured if they've completed health and safety training.

"Not enough officers have completed the training and now residents are again being left in the lurch."

Properties near the River Ock in Abingdon were expected to be flooded again on Tuesday, according to the EA website.

Previously, residents expressed frustration at the agency's failure to dredge local rivers.

Jim King from Ock Valley Flood Group said: "They will not listen to the local people. The rivers and the streams are so full of mud and silt."

Jon House, who had to leave his home with his partner and six-month-old son in September, said nothing was being done to prevent flooding.

The Environment Agency previously said dredging was a "sticking plaster solution".

In a statement, it did not address the MP's concerns but said it had deployed staff to affected areas.

The statement continued: "Our thoughts go out to anyone that has been impacted by flooding from Storm Bert as we know the devastating impact it can have.

“Protecting people and communities is our top priority and our teams continue to work round the clock across the Thames Valley to warn communities at risk and carry out operational activity to reduce the risk of flooding."

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