Please re-assess need for park flood works

WE read with disappointment the letter from Hannah Blythyn AM, Minister for the Environment, about the flood scheme and connected felling of trees in Roath Brook and Roath Mill Gardens.

As with much of the rhetoric from Natural Resources Wales (NRW) and elected representatives over the last few weeks, the letter from the minister totally fails to address a number of fundamental concerns.

The Roath Brook Trees campaign group, which has been attempting to engage with the minister for over four weeks, does not object to the flood scheme. However, the current works (phase three), which have not been separately assessed by NRW, will cost at least £0.5m. It is designed to protect 60 properties which NRW accepts have never flooded, or indeed had any water whatsoever enter their houses from the brook. These properties are currently classified as medium risk and will remain so after the works are complete.

By contrast, there are up to 50,000 properties throughout Wales which have flooded and continue to be classified by NRW as being at a high risk of flooding.

NRW’s chairman and the cabinet secretary have both confirmed in separate statements over the last six months that resources need to be targeted at those areas most at risk.

In contrast with the limited flood risk the scheme will cause huge irreparable damage to the local environment. Many of the 38 trees being felled are ranked as Champion Trees. One of the first trees to be felled was local favourite, Harry, a Dieck’s maple, with a girth of two metres: more than five times the size of the largest “replacement”. The trees are home to endangered species such as bats, while many residents have spotted water voles in the brook alongside more common visitors such as heron and kingfisher.

The confusion among residents about the risks they face has been compounded by information provided by NRW, who admit that for a five-month period up to March 2017 they publicly mis-stated the flood risk to local properties by up to 1300% (one example being an article in Wales Online on February 26, 2017).

We are asking for no more than a re-assessment by NRW of the need for the works, and if works are necessary, to consider environmentally sympathetic solutions. However, despite gaining more than 3,600 signatures on our petition, and the support of conservationists, we have faced complete intransigence from NRW and Labour politicians at all levels.

It was Albert Einstein who said “the measure of intelligence is the ability to change” and if the Assembly, and the Welsh Government, is to pay more than lip service to progressive actions such as the Environment (Wales) Act and the Well-being of Future Generations Act we would urge the minister to visit the area, engage with us, and at least open her mind to the idea of accepting change for the better, before it is too late.

Sarah Jones and others Roath Brook Trees campaign group Cardiff