I am pleased to take part in the debate, because flooding is unquestionably an important issue that touches more and more people's lives in Scotland every year.

With the climate change that is taking place, it is probable that rainfall will become more intense, the patterns will change and more people will be affected over time.

Major questions now arise about whether the infrastructure that we have created over the years in towns and cities is capable of coping with current pressures.

There is also a question about whether engineering solutions will ever be fully capable of coping with the pressures, which points to a need to utilise flooding protection mechanisms that are far more natural than those that we have used in the recent past.

Such an approach has many benefits and may have important implications and good by-products for the management of uplands, biodiversity and the improvement and restoration of habitats.

In our towns and cities, there is a potential to create new green corridors to manage flooding, which could bring major environmental and amenity benefits as well as providing more effective protection from flooding.

I welcome the Government's intention to introduce legislation on flooding, because we need to update the current legislation.

I also welcome the Rural Affairs and Environment Committee's decision to hold a major inquiry into flooding.

Those initiatives build on the previous Administration's actions, to which other members have pointed, such as the creation of a national flooding framework, the introduction of new planning guidance, an increase in funding and the commissioning of expert advice through the flooding issues advisory committee.

Flooding can have a devastating impact on individuals and communities. In recent years in my region, the Highlands and Islands, many communities have been affected by flooding.

For some individuals in the community, each of those incidents results in trauma, a potential effect on property value, anxiety, stress and the loss of irreplaceable personal items.

An individual from Elgin, in giving evidence on their experience, said:

"I think you've a fear factor initially and adrenaline helps carry you through it.

"In a lot of cases panic sets in.

"Then the desperation to get alternative accommodation.

"Then it's getting the loss adjuster to come and have a look.

"You walk back through your house again and it's covered in sewerage. That is a devastating moment."

Another person from Elgin, who had recently lost her mother to cancer, then lost every photograph of her mother in the flooding—those were irreplaceable personal items.

Flooding touches people in a real way.

The human cost, the cost to economic activity, the disruption to community life and the fear and anxiety in which people continue to live—which Sarah Boyack mentioned—are all reasons why we must make more advances in how we manage flooding.

I will play a constructive part in the discussions about the bill when it is produced.

That said, I am seriously concerned about some aspects of the Government's policy, particularly the impact of other policies that the Government is pursuing on local authorities' ability to fund flood alleviation schemes.

The Government has hitherto funded approved flood alleviation schemes at a rate of about 80 per cent.

The local authorities then fund the balance using a mix of the potential sources: capital receipts, direct council tax and prudential borrowing, the interest payments of which, as well as the capital, are paid back over many years.

As we know, the Government proposes a council tax freeze.

Further, if the council tax was ever abolished, as the Government proposes, a national capped rate of extra local income tax would be introduced.

Under either of those policies, local authorities' discretion to raise extra local taxes to pay their part of flood alleviation schemes would in effect be removed.

The only alternatives would be to reduce spending on other services or to sell assets, whereas other local authorities that do not have flooding issues could sell assets to spend on improvements to schools, local roads or social work facilities.

Considerable sums are involved.

The total bill for the various flood schemes in Moray Council's territory comes close to £140 million.

Under current conventions, Moray Council's share of that is some £29.5 million, of which it has already set aside some £12 million from capital receipts.

The council therefore has to find a further £17.5 million.

That is a large sum by any standards but, for a small local authority with a very small tax base, it is a huge burden.

I will give members an idea of the costs involved.

If the sums were all to be funded in one year, an increase in the council tax of roughly 50 per cent would be required.

Richard Lochhead: The member will of course accept that Moray Council's financial problems have been around for a number of years, including the years under the previous two Administrations in Scotland.

Peter Peacock: I am trying to make a serious point about the planning and implementation of the present Government's policies and about their implications for the council's ability to cope.

If the sums were funded over a three-year period, the increase in council tax would be some 16 per cent per year; if funded by prudential borrowing, the cost would be something like 3.5 per cent on the council tax for perhaps 25 years or more.

However, all funding avenues are now being blocked by the minority Government, which could mean that schemes will not be able to proceed or that they will have to be funded by millions of pounds in cuts in other services.

That is a ridiculous position for the Government to put the people of Moray in.

The Government's policies on local taxation will cause huge problems for Moray.

There can be only one solution: the minority Government must guarantee to fund flood alleviation schemes in Moray by 100 per cent.

Nothing less will do

It would be intolerable if Moray's citizens had to forgo crucial public services that others enjoy, or if they were faced with large tax rises when taxes are being frozen in other parts of Scotland

When he sums up, the minister will have to put these matters beyond doubt.

If his party sticks to its pledge to freeze council tax, he must guarantee 100 per cent funding for the Moray flood alleviation scheme.

I have said that I support the Government in considering legislation on flooding, but it will also have to consider the impact of its other policies on local communities' ability to cope.

I will not support the Government if it puts undue burdens on the people of Moray.

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