Speeches by Gardiner.

“I welcome the assurance the Home Secretary has given to those who have achieved indefinite leave to remain and have settled status in this country. That certainty is really important. She will know that in my constituency I have many families from Syria and Afghanistan, who came under the Syrian programme and Operation…”

“The speedy passage of environmental legislation through this House is not often a feature, so I thank the Leader of the House for the speedy way in which the biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction treaty was dealt with by the Government. In contrast, I remind him that in 2023 our party said that we would bring forwa…”

“I believe that, in the Isle of Wight, you have now a whole postcode after the Ventnor—”

“After the Ventnor incident, have they not now flagged the whole PO38 as a problem area?”

“Thank you very much for the evidence you have given so far. The purpose of this is obviously that the Committee makes a report recommendations. I think we were all struck by the example that my colleague Jenny gave. Do you think the Committee should make a recommendation that there should be a legal protection for prop…”

“Thank you. I was confident you would, but you have to say it—I cannot say it—for us to incorporate it into the report.”

“That is very helpful. I want to move on to Mr Goodliffe. In Happisburgh I think you have had a relocation scheme that paid up to 40% of property prices there. How can those schemes be safeguarded against potential exploitation—people who might want to buy up land and properties they consider could be subject to these m…”

“I am seeing nodding across the board.”

“Thank you. I was confident you would, but you have to say it—I cannot say it—for us to incorporate it into the report.”

“Thank you very much. CTAP—the Coastal Transition Accelerator Programme—is limited to just four regions. How do other local authorities support people who are faced with the loss of their homes because of landslip and erosion? Is there national guidance?”

“Thank you very much for the evidence you have given so far. The purpose of this is obviously that the Committee makes a report recommendations. I think we were all struck by the example that my colleague Jenny gave. Do you think the Committee should make a recommendation that there should be a legal protection for prop…”

“I am sure we would all want to thank, through you all, the officers who do that for the commitment they make. However, let me come back to the question: is there a national strategy, and should it be a recommendation of this Committee that there is one?”

“Now those maps have been produced, do you believe that there should be a requirement at the conveyancing stage of a property to notify a potential purchaser, just as you would if it was on a floodplain and so on?”

“Is that another recommendation you would like to see this Committee make?”

“That is great. I am just trying to make the Chair’s life easier for him when he is drafting this report.”

“Thank you very much for that. The big question is always around insurance. We have received lots of questions about why there is Flood Re but nothing for landslip and coastal erosion. There have been grey areas where insurers have refused to pay out—they cover landslip but not coastal erosion. What do you make of the p…”

“It is that arbitrary fluctuation in people’s insurance that a wider scheme would manage and cope with?”

“Finally, the coastal erosion assistance grant to support safe demolition of at-risk properties is only available to those properties before 2009. Do you think that that cut-off date is still justified?”

“After the Ventnor incident, have they not now flagged the whole PO38 as a problem area?”

“Or should there be almost a moving cut-off date because, as you have pointed out, things change in this area? Areas that were previously deemed safe are no longer, so should there be flexibility on that?”