The 'chaos' which means almost 40 organisations in Norfolk have responsibility to tackle flooding must end if the county is to be properly protected, a specially-convened summit has heard.
The meeting in Westminster, convened by Mid Norfolk MP George Freeman, also heard calls for housing developers to be forced to take responsibility to ensure new home schemes do not trigger flooding elsewhere.
Areas such as Attleborough and Long Stratton have been hit hard by inland flooding in recent years and frustration has grown about the lack of powers and abdication of responsibility in preventing it.
Conservative Mr Freeman organised the summit after seeing first-hand how householders had suffered devastating flooding.
He said: "It was a gut-wrenching reality check. Mid Norfolk is not meant to flood; it's time we recognise that flooding here is a wake-up call for our entire nation. This crisis is knocking on everyone’s door.
The existing framework is a bureaucratic nightmare. With 36 organisations involved in flood response in Norfolk alone, it’s a recipe for chaos.
"When no one knows who is accountable, communities suffer. People’s homes are at stake."
Norfolk County Council is the lead local flood authority and, as the highways authority, has responsibility for maintaining its roads and footpaths, including preventing flooding.
But other organisations with flooding responsibilities include Anglian Water, Internal Drainage Boards, district councils, the Environment Agency, National Highways and the owners of watercourses.
Mr Freeman is introducing a private members bill in Parliament which would improve the law to set clear responsibilities for flood prevention, improve accountability, ring fence money and make house builders liable when their schemes trigger flooding elsewhere.
He said: "It is not always about more money, sometimes a common-sense approach is needed.
"Why, for example, is it incumbent on our Internal Drainage Boards to have to apply for expensive licences in order to undertake certain types of work, sometimes having to wait months for the permits?
"Let’s instead work locally, use local knowledge to our best advantage and trust our key organisations involved in the management of our land and waterways to do the job, rather like a ‘trusted trader scheme."
Mr Freeman, whose bill is set to be introduced last this summer, has also been calling for developers to be made more accountable.
He said they are building homes on the edge of villages, but not upgrading drains, which can lead to flooding elsewhere.
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