FLOODING IN GLOUCESTERSHIRE

That this House recognises the superb efforts of the emergency services in the recent flooding in Gloucestershire; thanks the armed forces and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution for helping bolster the work to minimise the worst aspects of the crisis; praises the people of Gloucestershire for the wonderful community spirit they have shown; welcomes the decision to hold an independent inquiry into what happened and the lessons to be learned; and hopes that as well as investigating command and control mechanisms, local management of rivers and other waterways is fully assessed to prevent this disaster from being repeated.