the Telegraph.
Thanks to a friend of mine Will for spotting it.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/christopherbooker/10625663/Flooding-Somerset-Levels-disaster-is-being-driven-by-EU-policy.html
I have been checking and this is mentioned in a few places, blogs and articles but it generally seems
to have slipped below the radar.
Had this been known when the head of the Environment Agency Lord Smith sneaked in for his mystery
tour people would not have been calling for his resignation or sacking, they would have been calling
for his head.
No wonder he crawled into Somerset like a thief with no one aware of where he was going or what he
was doing, was he feeling guilty visiting the scene of his crime.
The council were not told what he was up to, local MPs were kept in the dark, the locals and the media
ending up chasing him round the area to try and pin him down to demand answers.
In the words of MP Ian Liddell-Grainger the “coward and git” turned up to have a quick visit to the
wetlands centre and then did his best to visit the mess his agencies policies had created while
avoiding the understandably upset locals.
Then like a thief in the night who has ruined the lives of many, he fled.
Now we have this. As I type this article I am trying to find any copies of the actual document so I may
post another article later on with a link, this is my thoughts.
I have mentioned that there seemed to be no planning in place about this, no disaster recovery plans,
no resources or people ready to take action when the floods started instead of waiting a month to
respond.
I do not want to believe that this is deliberate but when I am seeing reports about the Environment
Agency Policy Option 6, deliberately designed to allow flooding to happen in support of “biodiversity”,
“sustainability” and wildlife habitats above the needs of farming and people.
Reports that say the Somerset Levels were assessed by the EA and assigned Policy level 6, that the
Environment Agency deliberately set into motion a plan to allow these floods to happen without
regard to local people.
Many fingers are pointing at EU policy as being to blame, with these policies being in line with
European directives of the time.
But bashing the EU is an old habit, it’s easy to pass the buck to the faceless Eurocrats while the guilty
parties in the UK slip back into the shadows with their well paid jobs and comfortable lives.
It does not matter if they were following EU directives or not.
If the environment agency has been following a deliberate policy to allow areas like the Somerset
Level to flood in order to promote Biodiversity without any effort to protect the locals or even warn
them that this is happening then there can be no excuses.
Saying sorry does nothing when hundreds of homes and even entire villages are now underwater,
when there is a significant risk to a vast area caused by the contamination of the flood water.
The list of diseases found in the flood waters is long and frankly concerning, people are wading
through water that contains serious and potentially fatal diseases, farm animals, pets and wild life are
in that same water.
Saying Sorry does nothing to repair or replace the infrastructure that has not been underwater for six
weeks, utilities damaged or shut down due to flooding, every road in the area that will need to be
repaired and inspected because of the very real risk they have been undermined by flood water and
will crack or collapse when the water has gone.
How exactly are people going to move back into the abandoned villages when the foundations of their
houses have been flooded for weeks, aside from striping them down to the brick work to redecorate
how many will be condemned as unsafe because the foundations are crumbling.
For a natural disaster the floods across the Somerset Levels and the floods now being reported along
the Thames are a Tragedy.
If however the Environment Agency has in fact been deliberately allowing this to happen then it becomes
Criminal.
This is no longer a matter of resignations, instead it has moved into the realm of criminal charges.
But I suspect the criminals will slip away and hide amongst the rest of the Civil Servants and Politicians
who will make sure no one is punished for this.
Update. Found this.
http://www.tauntondeane.gov.uk/irj/go/km/docs/CouncilDocuments/TDBC/Documents/Forward%20Planning/Evidence%20Base/Parret%20Catchment%20Flood%20Management%20Plan.pdf
Check page 130 for a direct mention of the Somerset Levels
Policy option 6. Take action to increase the frequency of flooding to deliver benefits locally or elsewhere,
which may constitute an overall flood risk reduction. Within this context work must be undertaken to
maintain the safety of the embankments and infrastructure
This is a consultation document but clearly indicates the way that the Environment Agency has been
thinking. But they seem to have forgotten to do that maintain the safety of the infrastructure bit.