YORKSHIRE has yet to wake up to the threat of the Humber Flood Risk Strategy, according to National Farmers’ Union secretary for Holderness Ed Davey.

He says farmers need to realise that it is not only cliff-edge cottages which are threatened by the Environment Agency’s proposed abandonment of coastal defences.

The strategy, combined with the likely rise in sea level, will mean thousands of hectares of farmland being flooded by the sea on a regular basis within 40 years – and many more could be hit by knock-on effects.

“One fifteenth of the whole UK land mass – 100,000 hectares – drains into the Humber ” he said this week, as he urged NFU members to attend a meeting next week.

The redrawing of the Environment Agency’s frontier of responsibility threatened to knock out several drainage systems which depend on “clough gates” into the mouth of the river, he added.

The uncertainty threatened a blight on land and property values either side of the A1033, between Hull and Withernsea, and in a similar swathe along the south bank.

He said: “It is still unclear to the general public what is at stake and how we as a rural community might be affected.

“While a significant amount of farmland will be affected, there will also be a huge impact on the residents of East Yorkshire and north Lincolnshire.”

The Yorkshire Post reported earlier this year that Government’s calculations of profits and losses from withdrawal from the existing coastline had failed to take account of potential crop losses of £70m from 210 square miles of land directly threatened.

The meeting will be held at the Gardeners Country Inn – also known as the Gardeners Arms – at Coniston, near Hull, next Thursday, from 6.30pm.

Humber Strategies Manager for the Environment Agency Philip Winn and MP for Beverley and Holderness Graham Stuart will be there, with Mr Davey.

The same three speakers will lead a public meeting on Wednesday, October 29 at Hedon Town Hall, from 6.30pm, along with deputy leader of East Riding Council Jonathan Owen.

Story by Chris Benfield in the Yorkshire Post

FARMERS have vowed to continue their fight against plans to allow large parts of Holderness to be claimed by the sea.

National Farmers’ Union (NFU) chiefs attended a meeting in Patrington to see first-hand the impact Environment Agency and Natural England plans would have on farmland.

The NFU claims environmental issues have changed and, with world food shortages, ensuring sustainable food sources has become a priority.

Holderness is known as the bread basket of Yorkshire and is thought to be one of the best wheat-producing areas in the country.

But the agency wants to allow the sea to run further inland to create mudflats for birds.

Read the full story on Hull Daily Mail website

Drainage authorities, farmers and the Environment Agency were this week squaring up for a battle over the need to maintain sea defences for key farming areas in Norfolk.

Norfolk is too valuable to be allowed to flood, despite rising sea levels, the National Farmers Union (NFU) and the Association of Drainage Authorities (ADA) claimed this week.

“As far as engineering skills are concerned we could certainly carry out protection of that coast, in the long-term, and when we look at the assets there we may find that we need to,” said ADA chief executive Jean Venables, who is also senior ICE vice president.

…

The ADA stressed that future coastal defence schemes for low-lying areas such as the Norfolk coast must be considered with regard to their effect on the local community.

Environment Agency chairman Sir John Harman told local government officers last week that they had to take a wider view on flood defences.

“Regarding managed retreat, we need to get used to thinking not just about single communities, but a whole coast,” he said.

Read the full story by Kevin Walsh on the New Civil Engineer website (registration required)