Alastair Chisholm, policy manager, at the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management, welcomed the MPs' recognition that flood defence spending is insufficient. But he criticised the MPs' report for recommending greater protection of farmland: “Unless funding grows hugely there will always be a case for prioritisation, to allocate it where it can protect most lives and property.”
He also criticised the MPs' greater emphasis on dredging to speed up flood water flow, which can increase flooding downstream, rather than a new, more natural approach, which aims to slow water down upstream.