Britain is not equipped to deal with extreme temperatures, and its key infrastructure requires urgent investment to stop it from buckling in the sweltering heat, a series of climate experts have warned, as the nation was brought to a standstill on the hottest June day in history.
The Met Office recorded a temperature of 36.7C in Merryfield, Somerset on Thursday, a day after Gosport in Hampshire hit 36.1C, as emergency services came under intense pressure due to a rise in calls. Among those who fell victim to the weather were 10 people who were taken to hospital on Wednesday after being stranded in a traffic jam on the M25.
It was even hotter in Europe, with the mercury hitting 40C in Germany on Thursday. In Spain, more than 200 people have died as a result of the heat this week, according to health bosses. In France, two nuclear reactors were shut down in an effort to prevent the overheating of rivers they release water into.
In England, three NHS trusts have been forced to declare critical incidents, with MRI scanners failing at Norfolk and Norwich Hospital, while in Wales, police confirmed the death of a 50-year-old swimmer who had got into trouble off Aberavon beach.
London Ambulance Service said it had responded to a record-high number of life-threatening emergencies on Wednesday. Meanwhile, South East Water announced a temporary hosepipe ban, and train operator South Western Rail has advised passengers to avoid non-essential travel until Saturday.
More than 1,000 schools have also shut in order to protect pupils and staff, with many considering closing on Friday after the Met Office extended its red “extreme heat” weather warning for the South East and London.
Meanwhile, MPs on the government’s Environmental Audit Committee wrote to the environment minister Emma Reynolds, warning that she needs to tackle the “silent killer” of the extreme heat, with the number of heat-related deaths expected to rise to 10,000 a year by 2050.
And speaking to The Independent, climate scientists and infrastructure experts said that this week’s disruption to schools, hospitals and travel had laid bare the urgent need to upgrade buildings and transport links in the face of rising temperatures.
Dr Steve Denton, vice-president of the Royal Academy of Engineering, said: “We have this coming together of the age profile of our assets and the effects of climate change, plus the reliance that we have upon our infrastructure. These things coming together means that there is absolutely an imperative for us to take action to look after these assets better, so that they are more resilient to the heightened temperatures.”
Feja Lesniewska, a lecturer in sustainable transitions at Surrey Law School, told The Independent: “UK climate-change policy has not kept pace because adaptation has been underfunded and deprioritised, while progress on decarbonising high-emitting sectors such as transport and construction has been too slow.” She added: “We remain underprepared for extreme heat, exposing infrastructure, public services and vulnerable communities to avoidable climate risks already unfolding today nationally.”
Mary Gagen, a climate scientist at Swansea University, said a “heat dome” of warm temperatures over the UK had placed unprecedented strain on the UK’s infrastructure because, unlike during the 1976 heatwave, it was occurring against a background of increased temperatures.
“Weather rolls a six on the dice every now and again, and we get an extreme event,” she said. “But climate change has put a seven and eight and nine and 10 on that dice as well, and we’re not ready for those extra whammies.”
Professor Gagen said that legal limits should be introduced for people working outside, and that buildings should be required to include cross-ventilation to help them stay cool.
Last month, an independent advisory body, the Climate Change Committee, issued a report that said Whitehall had failed to keep up with the pace of climate change, with more than nine in 10 existing homes at risk of overheating. The group is calling for £11bn a year to be invested in measures to deal with heat across the public and private sectors, including £700m to be spent on cooling in hospitals and care homes.
The Environmental Audit Committee wrote to Ms Reynolds this week following the launch in April of an inquiry into extreme weather. Its chair, the Labour MP Toby Perkins, said: “This week, parts of the UK are facing temperatures approaching 40 degrees, a level of extreme heat that was once unthinkable yet now is becoming increasingly likely.
“The effects of such extreme heat can be disruptive and devastating. Without action, we will see economic productivity take a hit; more people needing attention in hospital and suffering with poor mental health; more hospitals, care homes and schools overheating; and more of our critical transport, water, food and IT systems failing.”
He added: “The evidence could not be clearer that extreme heat is an urgent threat to the UK. Yet the government is currently falling ‘far short of what is needed’, according to its independent climate advisers.
“I want to know what action the government is taking to tackle extreme overheating, a problem that will only grow worse without intervention, as well as its views on important measures to adapt to what seems to be our new normal.”
The previous chair of the committee, Philip Dunne, who was MP for Ludlow in Shropshire until 2023, told The Independent that regulations must be updated to support cooling systems in new builds, such as cool air from heat pumps.
He also said it was a “matter of government priority” to improve cooling systems in public sector buildings such as schools and hospitals.
On Thursday, the education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, said that the school closures this week showed “there is more to do” in providing schools with modern buildings. The National Education Union has urged her to set out a timetable for equipping schools with air conditioning units.
Rico Wojtulewicz, spokesperson for the National Federation of Builders, told The Independent that regulations covering the provision of cooling systems in new homes needed to be updated in order to make installing them commercially viable.
A government spokesperson said: “We are working across government to carefully consider the Climate Change Committee’s latest recommendations in relation to climate adaptation.
“We are already taking action to help safeguard people, livelihoods and our natural environment by investing in clean power, ensuring new residential buildings are designed to minimise unwanted heat from the sun, and launching the Local Authority Climate Service, which provides local authorities with easy access to tailored information to support adaptation planning.
“During this week’s extreme heat, people should pay attention to the latest alerts and guidance issued for their area by the UK Health Security Agency.”
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