Lord Smith - Environment Agency

[somerset]

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

Yawn.....

 

[Pavilionaire]

According to local farmers the rivers haven't been dredged properly for 30 years. Yet we give £1 billion to India over 5 years, and their Finance Minister turns round and says they don't need it, describing it as "peanuts". Bad choices in government.

 

[cunning fergus]

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.

Sure we did historically but surely in modern times we don't have to limit ourselves to the high ground because we now possess the ability to engineer solutions.

There are many places around the world where unsuitable land has been made habitable or suitable for agriculture, parts of Holland, New Orleans and Boston being a good examples. I accept not everywhere can be engineered too, but the fact remains that this part of Somerset was fine when it was managed and over the last 15 years or so the arrangements required to keep the levels dry have not been maintained.

Sort this out and we can stop using it as an example of climate change.

 

[GreersElbow]

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

We had an interesting debate in the pub last night about aliens and gods.

 

[Jim in the West]

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.

All well and good, and this is often a reasonable angle to take. But it typifies what I see as the "I'm all right jack" type view from the cosy South East. We live in a house which is at least 200 metres from a river and, I would guess, about 50 metres above the level of the river. We are not in any danger of flooding from the river. However, down here in Somerset it has rained virtually non-stop for two months. The fields are sodden - any rainfall just washes off into the roads. The ditches are no longer maintained, the drains around here can't cope (some are cracked, a lot are blocked). In our case, a new development added around 50 houses to the village about 10 years ago, and the developer failed to install soak-aways. The local council has been powerless to take any action, it seems. On the Saturday of the Reading game I spent 5 hours frantically keeping flood water away from our front door (hence missing the match!). There are LOADS of people in our position.....we're not on the Somerset Levels, but many parts of the county, and elsewhere in the South West, are really badly affected. It won't get on the news, but it's a huge issue for lots of people. I don't think we're asking for much....just for the various local authorities to do their job. The consequences of NOT doing so are massive insurance claims, and higher insurance bills for hundreds of thousands (if not millions).

 

[hybrid_x]

Yawn.....

Yes, it get's quite tiresome all these middle class types in their massive houses in the country moaning because all of a sudden the flood planes they live on......err.....have become flooded.

 

[Superphil]

According to local farmers the rivers haven't been dredged properly for 30 years. Yet we give £1 billion to India over 5 years, and their Finance Minister turns round and says they don't need it, describing it as "peanuts". Bad choices in government.

So, Not the EAs fault, it's Not the current governments fault, In fact it's probably not the fault of anyone currently in parliament. Stop blaming individuals or organisations, if the residents could have done more about it 30 years ago when they stopped dredging the rivers then maybe things wouldn't have got to this state. I don't recall the protestations against the decisions that were taken 30 years ago, perhaps at the time there wasn't the belief that the levels would ever flood like this. A mistake may have been made back then, right now it's about saving as much as possible, helping people, moving people and livestock. When it's over, that is the time to see what is going to be done about it, and anything that the EA and the government does will be to improve the area with the intention of preventing the same happening again. Till that's happened, there really is not point blaming anyone.

 

[Pavilionaire]

You've ignored my point about giving £1 billion pounds to an ungrateful country. We have sufficient money to sort the issue so let's do it.

 

[dougdeep]

If the government had made millions available for flood alleviation works and we'd had the driest January on record, what would the papers have been saying?

 

[Notters]

Another key point is that the Somerset Levels have fantastic soil for farming BECAUSE the land has flooded frequently over the centuries and deposited fertile aluvium. If it wasn't for this there wouldn't be so many people living there in the first place.

 

[somerset]

Yes, it get's quite tiresome all these middle class types in their massive houses in the country moaning because all of a sudden the flood planes they live on......err.....have become flooded.

Don't worry, there are plenty of lower class types in their two up two down terrace houses who are also underwater on the levels.....does that help you take your bigoted head out of the sands of inverted snobbery?....does it?...... I suspect not.

 

[hybrid_x]

Don't worry, there are plenty of lower class types in their two up two down terrace houses who are also underwater on the levels.....does that help you take your bigoted head out of the sands of inverted snobbery?....does it?...... I suspect not.

I see no bigotry in my post.....just an objective observation. Direct your anger at the authorities like most others are doing.

 

[somerset]

I see no bigotry in my post.....just an objective observation. Direct your anger at the authorities like most others are doing.

You are the one bringing class bigotry into it you effin fool.......I suggest you do something constructive, take your blinkers off for once....stop bringing politics and class into every post you make.....you and that other self styled activist DIP,....two peas in a pod.....just donate a few quid into the relief fund.....it goes to help everyone, yes even poor people believe it or not.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

All well and good, and this is often a reasonable angle to take. But it typifies what I see as the "I'm all right jack" type view from the cosy South East. We live in a house which is at least 200 metres from a river and, I would guess, about 50 metres above the level of the river. We are not in any danger of flooding from the river. However, down here in Somerset it has rained virtually non-stop for two months. The fields are sodden - any rainfall just washes off into the roads. The ditches are no longer maintained, the drains around here can't cope (some are cracked, a lot are blocked). In our case, a new development added around 50 houses to the village about 10 years ago, and the developer failed to install soak-aways. The local council has been powerless to take any action, it seems. On the Saturday of the Reading game I spent 5 hours frantically keeping flood water away from our front door (hence missing the match!). There are LOADS of people in our position.....we're not on the Somerset Levels, but many parts of the county, and elsewhere in the South West, are really badly affected. It won't get on the news, but it's a huge issue for lots of people. I don't think we're asking for much....just for the various local authorities to do their job. The consequences of NOT doing so are massive insurance claims, and higher insurance bills for hundreds of thousands (if not millions).

The lack of maintenance that would normally be expected is a fair point and something the authorities should be castigated for. That said some of the roads around Brighton and Hove are close to becoming undriveable due to potholes and lack for maintenance so the issue isn't unique to Somerset et al.

 

[Husty]

Sure we did historically but surely in modern times we don't have to limit ourselves to the high ground because we now possess the ability to engineer solutions.

There are many places around the world where unsuitable land has been made habitable or suitable for agriculture, parts of Holland, New Orleans and Boston being a good examples. I accept not everywhere can be engineered too, but the fact remains that this part of Somerset was fine when it was managed and over the last 15 years or so the arrangements required to keep the levels dry have not been maintained.

Sort this out and we can stop using it as an example of climate change.

But we don't. Every so often you're going to get a 1 in 50 or 1 in 100 amount of rainfall just like we're getting and then no matter what you've built it isn't going to help. Look at New Orleans

 

[Cheshire Cat]

You've ignored my point about giving £1 billion pounds to an ungrateful country.

Because it is a completely irrelevant point to make in this context.

 

[hybrid_x]

You are the one bringing class bigotry into it you effin fool.......I suggest you do something constructive, take your blinkers off for once....stop bringing politics and class into every post you make.....you and that other self styled activist DIP,....two peas in a pod.....just donate a few quid into the relief fund.....it goes to help everyone, yes even poor people believe it or not.

a) it is objective that most villages in the flooding are full of very well off people.
b) i have not brought politics into this post.....sometimes i may mention the corporations and central banks are above the govs but this is objective.
c) the rich country folk with their 50k 4x4s can help the relief fund.
d) most men look at the lie of the land when buying property, not just how many bedrooms, schools, garage size etc (watch the house hunt programmes' somerset episodes if you think i am being subjective).

I do have some sympathy, but begging and blaming a handrail authority to stop nature is quite insane, and seems on the media channels to be the act of well off people who think they are above nature.

 

[Pavilionaire]

Because it is a completely irrelevant point to make in this context.

I disagree. Stopping dredging is about budget. Giving money to India is a budget choice too.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

But you can say the same thing about any spend - why pick on India, why not cut defence spending (after all they only kill people and don't actually produce anything), or services to old people (again a completely unproductive sector of society), or anything else......

 

[somerset]

But you can say the same thing about any spend - why pick on India, why not cut defence spending (after all they only kill people and don't actually produce anything), or services to old people (again a completely unproductive sector of society), or anything else......

Why not stop giving to India and then ask them to cut defence spending....we are the donors here....