I have lost count of the number of times I have written about the localism agenda since the coalition government came to power.Equally, it is becoming increasingly difficult to keep track of the number of times a minister has used the agenda as an excuse for passing the buck from Whitehall down to town halls.Back in November, I broke the story that environment secretary Caroline Spelman would transfer the responsibility for EU air quality fines to councils. And sure enough it appeared in the Localism Bill.Prior to that we had communities secretary Eric Pickles pushing a bulldozer through regional planning strategies, and more recently, transport minister Norman Baker blaming councils for axing local bus services.But one pattern, which is becoming increasingly familiar, is how localism appears to be undermining (at best), or even threatening (at worst), the environment agenda in the UK.Especially efforts to implement findings from the Pitt Review, which examined the devastating 2007 summer floods that cost the economy £3.9bn.For months, councils have been waiting for official Defra guidance on sustainable urban drainage systems, which local authorities will be responsible for, in order to reduce surface flooding - a key cause of 2007's events. Last week, a Defra advisor told The MJ's sister mag Surveyor this year-long delay had been caused by ministers who wanted to ensure it reflected the localism agenda.These comments were closely followed by claims from the Institution of Civil Engineers that the localism agenda's effect on flood defence funding would leave critical national infrastructure vulnerable.Senior engineers fear an overemphasis on the number of properties protected - in order to enable third-party funding from landowners and businesses - will leave power stations, roads, bridges and waste plants susceptible of being overwhelmed should the inevitable scenes of flooding return.
