Neil Parish, Member of Parliament for Tiverton and Honiton, has on Tuesday 25th February hosted the launch of a report in the House of Commons that examines the impact of extreme weather on the South West Peninsula, particularly the resilience of the transport network, and makes a number of conclusions and recommendations to Government.

The destruction of the railway line at Dawlish, not least the plight of flood hit communities on the Somerset Levels, have underlined yet again the severe impact that extreme weather has on community resilience, transport, local government and the economy of the South West Peninsula. The Peninsula is increasingly southern Britain’s front-line for extreme weather.

This report, The South West - Extreme weather resilience: 2012 and early 2013, is the first detailed analysis of the wide-ranging impact that repeated severe weather events have across the Peninsula as a whole. Although the report touches on more recent events, its focus is the severe weather of 2012 and early 2013 because the evidence and understanding of the after effects are more complete.

Attending the launch were several local Members of Parliament, representatives from all five of the Peninsula’s local authorities, the Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership as well as regional transport partners such as Network Rail, First Great Western, South West Trains and Highways Agency.

Also at the launch was the Secretary of State for Transport, the Rt Hon Patrick McLaughlin MP, who gave an outline of the Government approach to repairing the storm damage to the railway line at Dawlish and long-terms measures to address the South West’s transport resilience. He assured the audience that the study into an additional

This was followed by a short speech from Heather Barnes, Strategic Director for Place Services, Devon County Council, and Vice President of the Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning and Transport (ADEPT). She said:

“Connectivity is the life blood of our peninsula. Road, rail, air and broadband are all part of the mix and we need to improve our infrastructure across all these areas, with Government’s help. We know that this is a long journey, but the SW has suffered from a legacy of underinvestment. We want to work with Government to address this situation and fulfil our economic potential.”

Neil Parish, who is also a member of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee, said at the event:

“I was pleased that the Secretary of State was able to give assurances that the study into complementary line that would potentially make it much faster to get from Plymouth and Cornwall up to London would be completed over the next few months. I am keen to see the schemes to improve rail resilience announced by Network Rail last year are fully implemented and that there is long-term investment in flood and coastal defences.

“We may have taken a battering from the recent storms and this must be addressed. However, the South West remains open for business and ready for visitors this Easter.”

The key recommendations the report makes to the Government are:

• The urgent implementation of the £31.3m programme of schemes identified by Network Rail to improve resilience and operations on the Great Western and West of England Lines;

• Provide an appropriate solution to the Exeter Flood Relief Improvement Scheme at Cowley Bridge to provide appropriate flood relief whilst also improving the strategic rail connectivity of the South West;

• The provision of additional passing loops on the West of England Mainline (in the vicinity of Honiton) to provide an alternative diversionary route to the South West;

• Localised schemes on the trunk road network including improvements to the M5 and A303; and

• Increased funding and support for Local Authority flood risk alleviation measures