FLOOD-HIT farmer Rob Keene has questioned a consultation which appears to ignore the high ground of Gloucester’s massive rubbish dump.

The Environment Agency has released details of its plan to manage flood risk around the River Severn.

But Over farmer Rob, whose land flooded in 2007, says no account has been taken of the huge Hempsted tip site which dominates the landscape south of the Lower Parting.

The tip site grows ever higher, and is well above the level of the river and surrounding land – so it would not be able to take floodwater.

But the Environment Agency has marked out an area which could flood, and that area includes the tip.

“The whole thing kind of makes sense if the tip wasn’t there,” said Rob. “I know people are concerned about it and its been brought up with the EA. The repercussions for this area are really serious.”

Swamped

The EA said the tip site had been taken in to account, and the map used in the consultation document was for illustration purposes only.

But Rob said the Hempsted tip would cause a flood bottleneck as well, and its potential effect on worsening the flood risk should not be underestimated.

“There isn’t much chance of moving the tip but it seems unfair that farmers’ land is being used as a flood storage area to reduce the flooding possibility in Gloucester.

“If we are taking water on our land to save people’s homes, I accept that, but they are not taking notice of the problems the tip causes.”

He added that a plan to raise a new stadium for the Gloucester City football ground would cause further problems.

During the floods of 2007, which saw more than 5,000 homes under water, and 135,000 without drinking water, Mr Keen’s farm lost many crops.

“It was devastating,” he said. “We had 350 acres submerged. It was just a nightmare in terms of the crops we lost and the retail trading we didn’t have.”

The EA’s Managing Flood Risk on the Severn Estuary brochure ties in with the recently published Shoreline Management Plan (SMP), which provides a framework for managing issues around the Severn Estuary including flood risk.

“It is important for us to be able to plan ahead for the challenge that climate change presents of rising sea levels,” said Anthony Perry, area flood risk manager.

The SMP and the Severn Estuary Strategy are intended to help councils, landowners and others to work with the EA to adapt to climate change in the coming decades.

Consultation closed on April 4.

An EA spokeswoman said: “The modelling and assessment for the Severn estuary strategy did take into account the raised ground of Hempsted landfill site.

“The map shown in the brochure was for illustration purposes only.”

Story on the This is Gloucestershire website

PLANS to stop flooding at a problem spot on the A12 between Ipswich and Lowestoft have been boosted by a Government minister.

Suffolk County Council is looking to alleviate flooding on the main road at Blythburgh, where the road meets the River Blyth, and is proposing to install a sluice to manage tidal flow in the area.

The road is liable to flooding during heavy rainfall and fears were heightened when the Environment Agency announced it could not continue to maintain defences along the Blyth estuary indefinitely.

Major delays on the road cause huge inconvenience for people and businesses in the area, as well as damaging economic prosperity.

The county council secured a £1.8million grant to deal with the problem and had considered 
raising the road but is now going to “develop the option” of installing a sluice.

It said it had responded to requests from the local community to look at this option – an idea which was supported by Environment Minister Richard Benyon at a meeting last week.

Guy McGregor, the council’s cabinet member responsible for transport, and Suffolk Coastal MP, Dr Therese Coffey, went through the proposals with Mr Benyon.

The plans have been developed jointly by the county council, Environment Agency and Natural England and have been designed to have minimum impact on the surrounding environmental areas.

Mr McGregor said the Government minister recognised the proposal would do much more than reduce flooding on the A12, and would benefit the entire Blyth estuary and Southwold Harbour.

“Flooding at Blythburgh has been an issue for sometime, most notably in November 2007 when the road was closed for two days,” he said.

“Following this, we successfully secured £1.8million of funding from the Department of Transport to put in place an effective solution to this problem.

“The sluice option should reduce the risk of flooding on this important road, as well as complementing the redevelopment work planned for Southwold Harbour and plans by the community to upgrade local flood defences.

“I would like to recognise the efforts of Therese Coffey MP in supporting our proposals and enabling them to be heard at the highest level.”

He added: “With ministerial support for our approach, we will continue to work in close collaboration with the Environment Agency, Natural England and the local community to design a suitable structure and ensure the work is carried out carefully and effectively.”

Detailed design work on the sluice will begin now, with construction expected to start before the end of 2012.

Dr Coffey welcomed the A12 sluice plan and added: “This shows the importance of securing Richard Benyon’s visit to the Suffolk coast in September, as he was already familiar with the challenges”.

Story by Jonathan Barnes in the East Anglian Daily Times

Story by Richard Alleyne in the Telegraph

Read more about the report from the Country Landowners Association website.

ENVIRONMENT Agency (EA) warnings on the threat of coastal flooding are ‘killing the tourism’ in the Mablethorpe area according to some angry residents and business owners.

In response to a flood plan pack issued by the EA, a Sutton on Sea resident, who asked not to be named, said: “This agency is killing our holidays. No one will buy here if all this is sent out. Tourism will be finished.”

Last year, the Leader reported on the EA’s Shoreline Management Plan to provide an assessment on the risk of coastal flooding over the next one hundred years and identify possible defence options.

Mike Dugher, area coastal manager for the EA, said: “A storm surge will come one day, so we need to be prepared. We won’t be able to stop it, all we can do is reduce the likelihood of flooding.”

Martin Carmichael from the local Tourism Forum said: “I don’t think it will affect tourism, but I do think the EA has over-estimated the threat of coastal flooding and under-estimated the threat of river flooding. There are lots of other places in the country where you’re more likely to get flooded than Mablethorpe.”

A spokesperson for the EA said: “Coastal communities should be aware of the risks from the sea and it is essential to have warning systems in place to protect people and property.

“The flood plan pack is designed as a guide to help communities prepare for flooding so that should it happen there is a plan of action in place to help people stay safe.

“Communities work together on the plans which include making sure vulnerable people have someone looking out for them.”

They added: “We constantly monitor sea conditions to make sure we give timely warnings to communities. The risk of flooding is always present so it is advisable to be prepared.”

Local resident John Gregory concluded: “There will be another flood, we just don’t know when.”

Each year the EA spends £7 million replenishing the beaches between Mablethorpe and Skegness to provide some protection from flooding.

A consulation period for the Shoreline Managemnent Plan draft concludes on February 5.

Story by Gemma Gadd in the Louth Leader

More than 20,000 homes in North Somerset are at significant risk of flooding, according to a new report by the Environment Agency.

The report reveals that North Somerset is the second place at most risk of flooding in the whole of the South West with 20, 415 properties at risk.

The figures reveal one in three properties in the area could go under water as climate change increases coastal erosion and a rise in river levels.

A map published by the agency highlights areas such as Weston Bay, Uphill, Sand Bay, Brean Down and Kewstoke at risk of flooding from rivers or the sea without defences.

In the northern sector of the district, areas such as Clevedon, Kenn, Tickenham and Kingston Seymour are also under threat from flooding.

The district of Sedgemoor comes in seventh in the league table of top 10 places in the South West susceptible to flooding, with an estimated 8,092 properties at risk.

The report comes accompanied with a call from the agency for spending on flooding defences in the region to rise to £1billion by 2035.

Since 2002, £377m has been spent, including the £29m seafront defences in Weston which are due to be finished by the end of next year and will protect 4,500 properties from coastal flooding.

The Environment Agency has also spent £3m in Clevedon at Marshall’s Bank and the Land Yeo Outfall to install better sea defences along the sea wall to protect 3,000 homes.

And in the Sedgemoor area, £30m will be spent in the next five years to improve protection for 1,400 homes. The report follows on from the Pitt Review done after the devastating floods of 2007. The review highlighted areas at risk of flooding and the need for investment in defences.

Environment Agency chiefs have said the figures are a stark reminder of the risk to properties in the region.

South West Environment Agency regional director Richard Creswell said: “These projections remind us of the choices we face in ensuring a sustainable future for our fragile planet.

“A failure to cut greenhouse gas emissions will lead to a battle for survival for mankind and many other species across the globe by the end of this century; and we will feel the effects here in the UK too.

“The latest UK climate change data shows the risk of flooding and coastal erosion will continue to increase in future due to rising sea levels and more frequent and heavy storms, and there are important decisions for us all to take about how to manage these risks to protect people and businesses.”

North Somerset Council deputy leader, Councillor Elfan Ap Rees, backed the calls for more investment in flood defences across the district.

Mr Ap Rees said: “Any future government will have to make funds available to tackle the threat of flooding.”

Story on the This is Bristol website

THE cost of coastal flooding in Suffolk and north Essex could run into billions of pounds, an insurance trade body has warned.

Climatologists predict sea levels on the east coast could rise by 40cms (15.75 inches) during the next 40 years, the Association of British Insurers said.

The financial impact on Lowestoft alone would be £550million, with more than 17,500 homes and commercial properties at risk of flooding.

Research shows that if there was a tidal surge in the Lowestoft area today 3,900 homes and commercial properties would be at risk. However by 2050 the rise in properties at risk would represent an 830 per cent increase.

They also warn of the impact this would have on tourism in the region and the disruption to transport and roads.

Although the association only examined the impact of flooding in the Lowestoft region, the impact further down the coast would be similar, especially in those areas already at risk.

A spokesman from the association said: “The majority of flooding by 2050 will be around north Essex, north Norfolk and parts of Suffolk.

“This is due to a combination of things – the fact it is mainly low lying and the rise in sea levels. Over the last decade the sea around the east coast has risen by 3cm.”

The Environment Agency recently caused uproar when it announced it could only afford to maintain defences on the river Blyth for the next five years and could only continue to protect Southwold harbour for 20 years.

At the moment the EA, who now have an overview on the coast, is in the middle of a public consultation on shoreline management in the east of England.

Rita Penman, media specialist, from the Anglian region of the agency said coastal defences are very much on the agenda.

“Our role is to protect people and properties from flooding within financial constraints,” she said.

“For example it wouldn’t be worth our while protecting a community from the sea made up of four houses. But even if we had a bottom less pit of money it wouldn’t always be worth building sea defences all around the coast. Some of the coastline is forever changing so we wouldn’t invest in an area where three months down the line we’d need to rebuild the defences.

“We are looking at sustaining the coast in the long term.”

Nationally the Association of British Insurers predict homes at risk of coastal flooding could soar by 40 percent, putting an additional 130,000 homes – from Hull to London on the east coast – at risk.

In light of this, the association has published a series of measures they would like to see included in the Government’s final Flood and Water Management Bill to ensure that flood insurance remains widely available to more than two million homeowners and businesses in areas that are known to be at risk.

Insurers have pledged to continue to provide cover to existing customers whose properties are at risk of flooding until 2013, as long as adequate flood management in its place.

The association have called on the Government to set targets and give the Environment Agency a statutory duty to reduce flood risk.

However the Environment Agency claim this is “unachievable” and say “it is not possible to protect everyone everywhere at all times from the risk of flooding”.

Story by Kate McGrath in the East Anglian Daily Times

In a section concentrating on the East of England, it also comments that:

“No other area of the UK is in such real and immediate danger from flooding as the East of England. It’s at risk from all sides: coastal erosion and flooding, tidal surges, river flooding and overflowing drains in towns and cities.

“In November 2007 Great Yarmouth and Ipswich came within 120mm of being swamped by a North Sea tidal surge. A controversial ‘managed realignment’ could sacrifice 6,000 ha of the Norfolk coastline to rising sea levels, according to the Environment Agency.”

Full details on the ICE website

Serious failings have been identified in the emergency response to last year’s tidal surge when Norfolk came within a whisker of a flooding disaster and thousands of families around Yarmouth were evacuated from their homes.

A new report says the operation was beset with problems, including insufficient supplies of food at rest centres, lack of phone chargers in emergency planning rooms and a break in the chain of command among those tasked with dealing with the crisis.

Most areas survived by inches – though residents in Walcott in North Norfolk complained flood warning sirens were not used to alert people to the dangers.

Read the full story by Shaun Lowthorpe on the EDP website