Lord Smith - Environment Agency

[HovaGirl]

I disagree with you again, those diseases you list are diseases of age, I would rather we continue to fight infectious disease around the world and invested more money into our quality of life rather than trying to stick another 5 years on the national average

A ten-year-old or forty-year-old dying of cancer might appreciate an improvement in their quality of life, as might a person with dementia, who is physically well, but mentally deteriorating.

 

[Husty]

A ten-year-old or forty-year-old dying of cancer might appreciate an improvement in their quality of life, as might a person with dementia, who is physically well, but mentally deteriorating.

Yes but incidence rates are low, especially in 10 year olds where they are negligible. 'Dementia' is a disease of age and the current conditions will simply be replaced with others as we learn to control or cure them.

Obviously research into these things is important, but like Notters says you have to balance out the cost with the reward at a national level.

 

[coagulantwolf]

Why does everyone seemed obsessed with the Government offering help? No one forced anyone to buy a house that may flood, it's a choice to live there (and not move). We live ina state where now everything and anything is the Government's fault...

 

[HovaGirl]

Yes but incidence rates are low, especially in 10 year olds where they are negligible. 'Dementia' is a disease of age and the current conditions will simply be replaced with others as we learn to control or cure them.

Obviously research into these things is important, but like Notters says you have to balance out the cost with the reward at a national level.

Well, wait until your parent has dementia and turns into a giant toddler. That person who loved you, taught you and forced you to do all sorts of things you didn't want to do as part of the learning process - it is very painful to watch them unravel. And the unravelling can take ten years. You don't get dementia and snuff it straight away. It goes on and on and on. You have to sell your inheritance to pay for their care home. You have to spend half an hour trying to get them into the car to take them for a drive. They can't come to family weddings or Christmas. Once they have got past a certain stage, they become the living dead. And there are 800,000 people in this country with dementia with a huge increase to follow, as the Baby Boomers reach their second infanthood. You included.

 

[Spicy]

All politicians and civil servant are twats.

Excuse me, I am a civil servant and definitely not a ****. I don't work for the Environment Agency though.

I agree that it has all been badly handled, and feel for the people in the South West (and for that bloke whose shed has been flooded!)

 

[hybrid_x]

Funny how many middle class types blame a "handrail authority" when they've bought a house on a low lying meadow near river.

Blame the developers that have built so much the soil has compressed and raised the water table.

Sheesh, you don't see the Indonesians blaming anyone for the volcano in sumatra last week.

Choose where you live based upon nature instead of post codes snobbery, schools, house prices, and then have nobody to moan at.

 

[Petunia]

Here's a thought, don't build on floodplains, as they flood when it rains alot.

If you're buying a house, look on the Environment Agency's "what's in your back yard" website and do not buy a house ing a floodplain, on a former landfill site, etc, etc.

And if you do, don't whinge when you are flooded.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Why does everyone seemed obsessed with the Government offering help? No one forced anyone to buy a house that may flood, it's a choice to live there (and not move). We live ina state where now everything and anything is the Government's fault...

I thought EVERYONE was against benefits so why is the UK even entertaining the idea of helping these people?

 

[Notters]

I disagree with you again, those diseases you list are diseases of age, I would rather we continue to fight infectious disease around the world and invested more money into our quality of life rather than trying to stick another 5 years on the national average

Yup, fair enough but the general point stands.

 

[cunning fergus]

Why does everyone seemed obsessed with the Government offering help? No one forced anyone to buy a house that may flood, it's a choice to live there (and not move). We live ina state where now everything and anything is the Government's fault...

I would tend to agree however, in this case many years of Govt ignorance and incompetence has lead to the current predicament in Somerset.

The area is like New Orleans and parts of Holland, so it needs managing in order to prevent floods and this happened successfully over previous centuries.

Extreme weather has still created floods during this time however these have largely been localised and this has been a fact of life for the people who live and work the land.

Unfortunately the management of this land has dropped down the priority list of the relevant Govt agencies and so pumping stations were closed and rivers not dredged; consequently this situation became inevitable. A situation that would not have occurred in Holland or New Orleans I suspect.

A simple and quick solution could be to (say) transfer some of the current overseas aid budget in order to pay for the rebuilding and maintenance of the necessary infrastructure, otherwise it will return to whence in came..........marshland.

 

[Notters]

Yes but incidence rates are low, especially in 10 year olds where they are negligible. 'Dementia' is a disease of age and the current conditions will simply be replaced with others as we learn to control or cure them.

Obviously research into these things is important, but like Notters says you have to balance out the cost with the reward at a national level.

Still far more common than houses getting flooded though. And a lot more distressing, I would argue.

 

[Notters]

Funny how many middle class types blame a "handrail authority" when they've bought a house on a low lying meadow near river.

Blame the developers that have built so much the soil has compressed and raised the water table.

Sheesh, you don't see the Indonesians blaming anyone for the volcano in sumatra last week.

Choose where you live based upon nature instead of post codes snobbery, schools, house prices, and then have nobody to moan at.

You've just reminded me of another point. Why should the government help these people who've bought a house on a floodplain when there are millions of (mostly young) people who can't afford to buy a house at all through no fault of their own?

 

[Superphil]

I would tend to agree however, in this case many years of Govt ignorance and incompetence has lead to the current predicament in Somerset.

The area is like New Orleans and parts of Holland, so it needs managing in order to prevent floods and this happened successfully over previous centuries.

Extreme weather has still created floods during this time however these have largely been localised and this has been a fact of life for the people who live and work the land.

Unfortunately the management of this land has dropped down the priority list of the relevant Govt agencies and so pumping stations were closed and rivers not dredged; consequently this situation became inevitable. A situation that would not have occurred in Holland or New Orleans I suspect.

A simple and quick solution could be to (say) transfer some of the current overseas aid budget in order to pay for the rebuilding and maintenance of the necessary infrastructure, otherwise it will return to whence in came..........marshland.

Historically, the human race chose places to live based on how suitable they were. And they didn't live in flood plains, unless they were prepared to move away at time of flooding. The human race has lost its common sense, don't blame the government. But I agree 100% about the foreign aid, stop it for now till we've sorted out our own country, then we'll be in a better position to help the rest of the world.

 

[somerset]

Fortunately for me, I have the Mendip Hills between me and the main problem areas inland from Bridgewater and Taunton..... about 12 miles south of me...... but I know two farming families near a place called Middlezoy,.... they are evacuated, and all their livestock have been scattered to a dozen or so locations,...... they are scathing about the lack of EA action, but surprisingly not in the recent 2 years, more about 15 years ago when a 'lump' of money became available from various sources ( EU and central government), but was diverted away from Somerset levels, to a huge canal and lock gate project on the Kennet & Avon up near Bath..... millions and millions spent on keeping the leisure boat traffic happy........ sod the farmers of the levels.

 

[Notters]

Historically, the human race chose places to live based on how suitable they were. And they didn't live in flood plains, unless they were prepared to move away at time of flooding. The human race has lost its common sense, don't blame the government. But I agree 100% about the foreign aid, stop it for now till we've sorted out our own country, then we'll be in a better position to help the rest of the world.

I think this is probably right, incredibly harsh though it seems. We need to deal with local issues of poverty and global issues of disease and climate change.

 

[hybrid_x]

interesting but far out debate that claims the floods are deliberate to kill off farm land so they sell it off for fracking.

http://www.ishtarsgate.com/forum/sh...ding-of-the-Somerset-Levels&p=27845#post27845

 

[dougdeep]

I've lived in 6 houses, they were all well above sea level and nowhere near rivers. Why doesn't everybody do it?

 

[hybrid_x]

I've lived in 6 houses, they were all well above sea level and nowhere near rivers. Why doesn't everybody do it?

post code snobbery, fishing, to be near other torys etc etc.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

I thought the Levels were supposed to flood given their geography and geology, as they are a natural wetland.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somerset_Levels

 

[Westdene Seagull]

Have to agree with those saying if you don't want to be flooded then don't buy a house in an area liable to flooding. Those buying a property should always pay for a decent solicitor who will complete all the due diligence for getting this sort of information. From that point it is your choice ( and the mortgage lenders ) whether to proceed and take the risk. If you do proceed I fail to see why the state should assist when you are, unsurprisingly, flooded.