In the news
Bright Blue Researcher, Rebecca Foster was recently published in The Scotsman.
In the article Rebecca discusses the challenges of developing hydropower where ageing grid infrastructure and high costs of upgrading and connecting to the grid are stifling developers ability to utilise Scotland’s hydro potential.
You can read the full article here
Bright Blue’s report, In Deep Water? has featured in an article by the Environment Journal.
The article stated that “think tank Bright Blue has warned that the UK is not prepared for the increase in flooding predicted to take place in the coming years.”
Rebecca Foster’s opinion-in-brief was published by CityAM, discussing rising gas prices and what the Government should do to address the current ‘energy crisis’.
You can read the full article here
Bright Blue’s report, In Deep Water? has featured in a speech by Emma Howard Boyd, Chair of the Environment Agency at the annual Coastal Futures conference.
The speech included some of the key findings found that since 2007:
At least 15 hospitals have experienced flooding which caused disruption or imminent risk of disruption to patient services or hospital support services;
At least 68 schools have experienced flooding which disrupted lessons or school transport;
There has been flood damage to at least 31 supermarket branches;
And, at least 12 instances of flooded electricity substations.
Bright Blue’s report, In Deep Water? has featured in an article by the Environment Journal. The article includes some of the key findings from the report, highlighting that the UK has an urban drainage problem, affecting communities across the country during incidents of heavy rainfall, putting drainage and sewerage infrastructure under strain and even contributing to flooding in some cases.
Helen Jackson, Associate Fellow at Bright Blue and report author was quoted:
“The disruption caused by Storm Arwen highlights the need to make our infrastructure resilient to extreme weather, and be more preventative and less reactive. Many towns and cities in the UK are seeing repeat episodes of flash flooding affecting households, businesses, and transport systems.
“We need to recognise this trend and do much more to ensure our urban drainage and sewer systems can cope with heavy rainfall as the climate changes. This should include limiting the spread of impermeable surfaces in our cities and ensuring basic measures like drain cleaning are not overlooked.
“The recent furore over sewage spills highlighted the importance of adequate drainage and sewerage systems for environmental quality – but this is not just an environmental issue, it is a public safety issue.”
Bright Blue’s report, In Deep Water? has featured in an article by DownToEarth, highlighting that UK is not adequately prepared for the increased risk of flooding due to climate change. The article discusses that the UK has been hit by flash flooding 51 times since 2007, with at least 10 in London as well as seven in Birmingham and the West Midlands.
Bright Blue’s report, In Deep Water? has featured in an article by Global Citizen. The article focuses on the evidence from the report gathered by artificial intelligence which shows the damage caused by flash flooding across the UK in the past 14 years.
Ryan Shorthouse, the Chief Executive of Bright Blue was quoted:
“The impact of flooding is already being felt deeply in communities across the UK.
“The UK government can and must do much more to better improve the resilience of local communities, businesses, public services, and critical infrastructure to flooding.”
Bright Blue’s report, In Deep Water? has featured in an article by The Halifax Courier discussing that the UK is not adequately prepared for the increasing risk posed by flooding as the climate changes.
Helen Jackson, Associate Fellow at Bright Blue and report author, said:
“The disruption caused by Storm Arwen highlights the need to make our infrastructure resilient to extreme weather, and be more preventative and less reactive.
“Many towns and cities in the UK are seeing repeat episodes of flash flooding affecting households, businesses and transport systems.
“We need to recognise this trend and do much more to ensure our urban drainage and sewer systems can cope with heavy rainfall as the climate changes. This should include limiting the spread of impermeable surfaces in our cities and ensuring basic measures like drain cleaning are not overlooked.
“The recent furore over sewage spills highlighted the importance of adequate drainage and sewerage systems for environmental quality – but this is not just an environmental issue, it is a public safety issue.”
You can read the full article here and the full report here.
Bright Blue’s report, In Deep Water? has featured in an article by The Yorkshire Post. The article highlights some of the key findings in the report including that Calderdale is the worst hit place in the country for school flooding.
Helen Jackson, Associate Fellow at Bright Blue and report author, said:
“The disruption caused by Storm Arwen highlights the need to make our infrastructure resilient to extreme weather, and be more preventative and less reactive.
“Many towns and cities in the UK are seeing repeat episodes of flash flooding affecting households, businesses and transport systems.
“We need to recognise this trend and do much more to ensure our urban drainage and sewer systems can cope with heavy rainfall as the climate changes. This should include limiting the spread of impermeable surfaces in our cities and ensuring basic measures like drain cleaning are not overlooked.
“The recent furore over sewage spills highlighted the importance of adequate drainage and sewerage systems for environmental quality – but this is not just an environmental issue, it is a public safety issue.”
Bright Blue’s report, In Deep Water? has featured in an article by The Independent. The article focuses on the reports finding that poorer areas of Britain are especially underprepared for the changing flood threat that its homes and businesses are facing.
Helen Jackson, Associate Fellow at Bright Blue and report author said:
“There are many households, businesses and communities across the country, especially in poorer areas, which are simply underprepared for the changing flood risk they face,” Helen Jackson, environment economist and report author, wrote.
“We need to move away from an old concept of flooding - an unfortunate event affecting individual properties which by and large fully recover via insurance - and recognise the potential compounding impacts of repeat flooding on communities’ economic welfare over the longer term.
“Low financial resilience through lack of insurance and other financial impacts from flooding has the potential to impede the economic recovery and development of the community as a whole in the long term.”
You can read the full article here and the full report here.
Bright Blue’s report, In Deep Water? has featured in an article by BusinessGreen.
The article discusses how flooding has inflicted major damage and disruption to businesses, communities, infrastructure, hospitals, and schools across the UK over the past 14 years. The article highlights the analysis used in the report utilises a novel artificial intelligence (AI) technique to scan thousands of local, regional, and national newspaper articles for reports on flood events and their impacts to create an interactive map of the UK's flooding woes since 2007.
The report author Helen Jackson, Associate Fellow at Bright Blue was quoted in the article:
The vast disruption caused by storms and flooding across the UK was likely to escalate in the coming years due to climate change, highlighting the need "to be more preventative and less reactive" to extreme weather incidents.
"We need to recognise this trend and do much more to ensure our urban drainage and sewer systems can cope with heavy rainfall as the climate changes.
"This should include limiting the spread of impermeable surfaces in our cities and ensuring basic measures like drain cleaning are not overlooked.
"The recent furore over sewage spills highlighted the importance of adequate drainage and sewerage systems for environmental quality - but this is not just an environmental issue, it is a public safety issue."
Ryan Shorthouse, Bright Blue's Chief Executive, said:
The Covid-19 crisis exposed that "the UK sometimes lacks preparedness for unforeseen disasters".
"Flooding is one of the most serious climate-related challenges that this country is facing and will continue to face as the climate changes further in the coming years," he said. "Reaching net zero emissions is vitally important, but the impact of flooding is already being felt deeply in communities across the UK. The UK government can and must do much more to better improve the resilience of local communities, businesses, public services, and critical infrastructure to flooding."
You can read the full article here and the full report here.
Bright Blue’s report, In Deep Water? has featured in an article by el Agora, a Spanish newspaper. The article states some of the key messages from the report, including that the UK is not adequately prepared for the increasing risk posed by floods and that since 2007 different communities in the UK have been affected by flash floods a total of 51 times.
Ryan Shorthouse, Executive Director of Bright Blue was quoted:
"The impact of flooding is already being felt deeply in communities across the UK. The government can and must do much more to improve the resilience of local communities, businesses, utilities and critical infrastructure to flooding."
You can read the full article here and the full report here.
Bright Blue’s report, In Deep Water? has featured in The Big Issue.
The article discusses how the interactive map has revelled just how much the UK has been affected by flooding over the past 15 years. The article describes how artificial intelligence has constructed the map using thousands of local, regional and national newspapers. The data generated using this method maps out where and how regularly homes and vital infrastructure have been affected by flooding. As the risk of flooding is set to increase alongside the rise in global temperatures, the article includes the reports warning that the UK is not adequately prepared for flooding in the future.
You can read the full article here and the full report here.
Bright Blue’s report, In Deep Water? has featured in Politics.co.uk. The article outlines the reports findings which reveal that the UK is not adequately prepared for the increasing risk posed by flooding as the climate changes. The article also includes some of the key recommendations included in the report.
Helen Jackson, Associate Fellow at Bright Blue and report author said:
“The disruption caused by Storm Arwen highlights the need to make our infrastructure resilient to extreme weather, and be more preventative and less reactive. Many towns and cities in the UK are seeing repeat episodes of flash flooding affecting households, businesses, and transport systems.
“We need to recognise this trend and do much more to ensure our urban drainage and sewer systems can cope with heavy rainfall as the climate changes. This should include limiting the spread of impermeable surfaces in our cities and ensuring basic measures like drain cleaning are not overlooked.
“The recent furore over sewage spills highlighted the importance of adequate drainage and sewerage systems for environmental quality – but this is not just an environmental issue, it is a public safety issue.”
Bright Blue’s report, In Deep Water? has featured in The Guardian. The article outlines the reports findings which reveal that the UK is not adequately prepared for the increasing risk posed by flooding as the climate changes.
Helen Jackson, Associate Fellow at Bright Blue and the report’s author, said:
“The disruption caused by Storm Arwen highlights the need to make our infrastructure resilient to extreme weather, and be more preventive and less reactive.
“Many towns and cities in the UK are seeing repeat episodes of flash flooding affecting households, businesses, and transport systems. We need to recognise this trend and do much more to ensure our urban drainage and sewer systems can cope with heavy rainfall as the climate changes. This should include limiting the spread of impermeable surfaces in our cities and ensuring basic measures like drain cleaning are not overlooked.”
The report called for the government to support and fund an ongoing programme of research to identify and monitor risks associated with extreme rainfall in urban areas. It also said government should conduct a civil resilience exercise for an extreme rainfall event in a major UK urban area, incorporating significant infrastructure failure.
Ryan Shorthouse, the Chief Executive of Bright Blue, said:
“Flooding is one of the most serious climate-related challenges that this country is facing and will continue to face as the climate changes further in the coming years.
“The impact of flooding is already being felt deeply in communities across the UK. The UK government can and must do much more to better improve the resilience of local communities, businesses, public services, and critical infrastructure to flooding.”
You can read the full article here, and our full report here
Bright Blue’s latest report, In Deep Water? was mentioned in an article by The Telegraph. The article focused on the impact of flooding events in the UK on essential supplies.
The article quoted one of the report findings:
“Research by Bright Blue found that there have been more than 50 flash flood events in major urban areas since 2007, including 10 in London and at least seven in Birmingham and the West Midlands.”
Helen Jackson, an associate fellow at Bright Blue and the report author, said:
"The disruption caused by Storm Arwen highlights the need to make our infrastructure resilient to extreme weather and be more preventative and less reactive.
"Many towns and cities in the UK are seeing repeat episodes of flash flooding affecting households, businesses, and transport systems. We need to recognise this trend and do much more to ensure our urban drainage and sewer systems can cope with heavy rainfall as the climate changes.
"This should include limiting the spread of impermeable surfaces in our cities and ensuring basic measures like drain cleaning are not overlooked.
"The recent furore over sewage spills highlighted the importance of adequate drainage and sewerage systems for environmental quality – but this is not just an environmental issue, it is a public safety issue."
You can read the full article here, and our full report here.
In an article by PoliticsHome discussing Bright Blue’s call for a ban on wet-wipes which contain plastic, Researcher Rebecca Foster was quoted:
"Non-flushable wet wipes have a detrimental effect on our waterways and marine ecosystems, contributing to fatberg build up and leading to aquatic life ingesting microplastics.
“Additionally, water companies and consumers are picking up the tab for clearing blockages caused by non-flushable wet wipes being improperly discarded.
“We urge those in government, including Defra Secretary George Eustice MP, to consider the strong environmental and economic case for banning non-flushable wet wipes containing plastic."
You can read the full article here
In an article for the Daily Mail discussing the new 'Net Zero' strategy for Britain, Bright Blue’s Senior Research Fellow, Patrick Hall was quoted:
“Insufficient costing of the scheme appears to show the Treasury had won in the 'tug of war' with No 10 and the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy department.”
You can read the full article here.
In an article for The Guardian discussing the UK’s net zero plan, Bright Blue’s Senior Research Fellow Patrick Hall was quoted:
“In the tug of war between No 10 and BEIS and the Treasury over funding, it appears as if the latter has won out, and we have been left with a plan which is a welcome start, but doesn’t yet meet the scale of the challenge.”
“The government’s stated aim is to install 600,000 heat pumps per year by 2028, so the maximum of only 90,000 pumps to be covered over the next three years falls far too short. The funding simply isn’t sufficient.”
You can read the full article here
In an article for BusinessGreen discussing the countdown to the Net Zero Festival, Bright Blue’s former head of research Sam Hall explains what the net zero transition means to him.
When asked “What does net zero mean to you?” Sam Hall said:
“We have a responsibility to future generations to prevent dangerous levels of climate change and that means reaching net zero. It's also a huge economic opportunity for Britain to gain a first mover advantage in the industries of the future.”
You can read the full article here
