Head of Environment Agency - resign?

[aspenarb]

The number crunching is sort of irrelevant when we get things like double the normal rainfall in a month. I wonder if they dont just number crunch the stats and think flooding only affects X percent of the population and cant justify the spending for so few. Either way its not an option to leave things as they are. Dont the insurers opt out of flood damage claims in flood hot spots ?

 

Bob

[NFG]

HI NFG i think EA will be no LONGER mate after this in Somerset other place I WAS TALKING TO FARMER AS YOU SAID THEY KNOW THE LAND WHAT THEY FARM :thumbup1:THE FARMER I WAS TALKING TODAY IS A LARGER FARMER AND 99% OF HIS LAND IS UNDER WATER THAT NOT RIGHT ALL THEY TOLD THE EA YRARS AGO THIS IS WHAT GOING HAPPEN IT LIKE THE SEA DOWN THERES MILES AND MILES OF FLOOD WATER NOT GOOD AT ALL:thumbdown: THANKS JON

 

Hi Jon,

 

In France that bloke would have been lynched & I wouldnt be surprised if the EA got banned from the levels, I think thats how & why they sorted out Norfolk.

 

Over here this is managed at 'town hall' level, the Govt just provides the cash - Exactly what Camaroon was talking about needs to be actioned & it would put some money into local businesses in the process.

 

Anyway, I hope your local cizzer orchards arnt affected & the skittle alley still dry - bon courage.

 

N

[Dan White]

Surprisingly impressed by the Shadow Environment Minister, Barry Gardiner, on the BBC news channel just a minute ago. Refused to be drawn into the usual Lab V Con pissing match and just stated what practical action needs to be done to sort the mess out. Very clear on the fact that its not just dredging that will sort it out and that it is all about the bigger picture which requires more work to be done on the whole waterways system including on high ground and wider flood defences.

 

First time in a long while I've heard a politician not just waffle about how their party would do it better.

[Dan White]

Lets hope that some of that attitude can actually be converted into £££ for the guys on the ground to get on and do it. I like the French idea as NFG put it that this should be a local govt issue with funding from central.

[NFG]

Surprisingly impressed by the Shadow Environment Minister, Barry Gardiner, on the BBC news channel just a minute ago. Refused to be drawn into the usual Lab V Con pissing match and just stated what practical action needs to be done to sort the mess out. Very clear on the fact that its not just dredging that will sort it out and that it is all about the bigger picture which requires more work to be done on the whole waterways system including on high ground and wider flood defences.

 

First time in a long while I've heard a politician not just waffle about how their party would do it better.

 

Hi

 

Yes, seemed to make sense to me what he said, its going to take a lot to sort it & I hope its not long before words & money become actions & results.

 

To be fair on all, it has been an exceptionally wet winter, even here its the wettest the locals can recall.

 

N

[doobin]

Government agencies are horrendously inefficient. What is needed is a few well paid ex private sector employees with real life/work experience to keep the costs in check and provide real value for money.

 

Two examples-

 

Public sector incompentence- Our local EA have a 13t digger which they use to clear trees fallen in the river. Great. What the morons don't have is a grab for it, so everything takes three times as long as needs to.

 

Private sector milking the public sector, allowed by incompetent/corrupt works allocators- We had some silt on the road from all the floods. A private company, clearly on 'emergency day rate' (despite it being a week after the silt was deposited) took over a week with men, traffic control, a dumper, grab lorry and, get this- a mini digger with a 24" bucket to clear the roads. Stop/go boards, a 3cx with a 4-in-1 bucket followed by a roadsweeper would have sorted it in a day. Serious piss taking.

 

The country is rotten.

[ArthurBottlesworth]

Council were working on our lane prior to resurfacing work

Never seen people work so slowly

 

Friend gave guy a lift and they'd hired his jcb for three! Months and used it for two weeks

He was happy but what a waste of £££££££

[ArthurBottlesworth]

Stick council workers on bonus

10% of what they save, and first one to put claim in gets it ( bit of competition there)

Then reduce department budget by savings each year

Be razor sharp within 3 years

 

When I worked in StHelens pilkington glass had bonus scheme where biggest saving got guy a new car, one year someone said " you know that warehouse you demolished , why not turn the heating off!" he got new talbot avenger for that!

[TimberCutterDartmoor]

why?

 

Did he make it rain persistently for the last two months. Given that this is the wettest winter ever! Digging ditches, dredging rivers can only do so much. Our river systems can only drain so much water, before it rains again & then again..... When it rains inches at a time several times a week for two months it can only go one way, across the surrounding land.

 

Let us not forget that the ea has been underfunded for years, and in the current climate,. Where the current government has had to make severe cuts to clear up the mess left behind by the last. That government took off the shackles on the banks allowing them a free hand to undertake "casino" banking, whilst at the same time spending more money than they were making on popularist social re-engineering that in the long run have benefitted no-one.

 

When there is not a pot to p**s in, its hard to give the ea and others the tools to do a proper job. An empty pot, will not produce a magic sponge to mop up all the water, nor will it make the conveyor belt of atlantic weather fronts either disappear or move further north or south.

 

The only constructive thing the government could do today to help alleviate some of the problems, is to divert some of the "ring fenced" multi billion pound overseas aid budget to helping those british citizens and taxpayers that are suffering so badly in the affected areas right now.

 

I cannot understand or accept why the british government is sending money to countries like india, to help support and educate millions of impoverished indians, when that same country is spending billions on nuclear weapons and space exploration. Charity should begin at home, and we should make those who are suffering in our country are our first priority.

 

+1

 

i blame gay marriage.

 

+1

[NFG]

All,

 

I think Prince Charles comment "The tragedy is that nothing happened for so long" sums it up well.

 

Chris Smith is just a member of the old boys club, who in his own deluded mind is "doing a great job" & Im sure everyone in Somerset agrees with him.

 

Oh well, Im sure a large pension awaits at some point in future, anyone else would have been fired long ago.

 

N