Western Daily Press (Saturday)
It’s time for the EA to leave it to the experts
A CLA proposal to hand river management back to drainage boards and local partnerships gets the vote of Bridgwater and West Somerset MP Ian Liddell-Grainger, as he tells Defra Secretary George Eustice
DEAR George, Some years ago I was exploring some of the byways of the Somerset Levels and got out to admire the view at a point where the River Parrett meandered close to the road.
An old chap came along and we got into conversation and he told me he had formerly been in charge of one of the sluices on the river, raising and lowering it as necessary to control water levels and prevent flooding.
He said he knew the river system intimately: if there was heavy rain in South Somerset he would know almost to the minute when to open the sluice to let the surge through.
But once the Environment Agency was created he and a lot of other locals who had managed the system so well were told they weren’t needed: the agency had computers which would say what needed doing and when and there was therefore no need to have eyes on the ground.
Then he pointed to a tree which was growing vigorously some 25 feet out towards the river from where we were standing. That, he said, wouldn’t have been there 20 years ago because that spot had previously been the exact centre of the river: the tree was growing in the huge accumulation of silt that had built up and restricted its channel, to his way of thinking to potentially dangerous levels.
He had, he said, tried to warn the Environment Agency, but had been completely ignored – because obviously the computer knew best.
And I don’t think I need to remind you, George, of what the ultimate outcome of that situation was.
I mention this episode because I have been scanning proposals by the CLA to hand back water management to the internal drainage boards and partnerships such as the Somerset Rivers Authority simply because they are often far better placed than the EA to do the job.
The complaints about the EA follow a common theme. It’s often too slow to respond to essential maintenance of existing flood defences, leaving many communities vulnerable to serious flooding.
And while a lot of landowners are already stepping up and protecting their local communities, they are often crippled by uncertainty on whether they can undertake the maintenance work themselves.
It seems to me, George, that we are
plagued by a sclerotic and – most relevantly – underfunded agency. One which has clearly failed to stay on top of all the pollution incidents that are now coming to light and which holds all the powers but lacks the resources and the nimbleness necessary to wield them effectively.
I can personally vouch for this having witnessed during the 2014 floods the aeons it would take to get the agency to take and implement a crucial decision in the battle against the flood waters when a babe in arms could see what was necessary.
It’s no longer an effectively-run organisation and the ambition for it to micro-manage every last inch of the country’s hydrology has simply not been achieved. Far better, easier, simpler and cheaper in my view to wind the clock back and allow those who really know what they’re doing to take charge – within an agreed, overall framework.
I refer back to the old chap I spoke to about the siltation and who was effectively told, when his services were being dispensed with, that it was time to “leave it to the experts”.
A grossly arrogant view: he and his kind were the experts.