Head of Environment Agency - resign?

[NFG]

All,

 

Watched a BBC report today, the arrogance of Lord Chris Smith beggars belief, clearly they are not the cause of the floods as suggested by the BBC but the reluctance of this man to accept any responsibility and apologise to local residents for the pitiful efforts of his department over the last year is appalling.

 

Its obvious to me thats whats needed is regular planned maintenance, not a pittance of a token effort of 'crisis management' over a month too late.

 

All be different if he lived in Somerset

 

</rant>

 

N

[Stubby]

All,

 

Watched a BBC report today, the arrogance of Lord Chris Smith beggars belief, clearly they havnt caused it as suggested by the BBC but the reluctance of this man to accept any responsibility and apologise to local residents for the pitiful efforts over the last year is appalling.

 

Its obvious to me thats whats needed is regular planned maintenance, not a pittance of a token effort of 'crisis management' over a month too late.

 

All be different if he lived in Somerset

 

</rant>

 

N

 

Also if they did what you suggest ( and I agree ) it would create a lot of jobs . There always used to be ditch men when I was little maintaining the ditches and culverts . The rivers could be dredged etc etc .....

[hedgesparrow]

rather than go over it this is what i wrote to my local mp and nick clegg as for the head of the EA all he is good for is fishing bait.

Good afternoon Steve thank you for your email and what is going on. after my last email i started to look at the bigger picture. where does the water come from, yes the rain falls on the land and from there in to brooks streams and rivers.

maybe this is were this should start. in the old days outside of fields were ditched to take any run off from fields. the sediment from this was put back on the land next season. hedges were maintained and hedges laid to take the water from the ditches maintain a good enviorment for wildlife etc.

i have to say i have a vested interest in having hedges laid as i am a hedgelayer in the winter. grants were available under the stewardship scheme, but this was stopped. also the acreage had to be over 50 acres to be able to apply for this grant so smaller farmers are unable to get this grant.

i believe the time has come that the grants given in the steward ship scheme should be instead of wildlife margins given to bring back ditches, have hedges re planted which have been grubbed out. old hedges which are flailed to death could be laid making a bigger wildlife corridor than now. the bonus to this it would bring more workers to do ditches, lay hedges and plant. coppice workers in the woods would be busy and bringing derelict woods back to health. this in turn brings in revenue to the Treasury in income tax and vat so will offset the costs of some of the work which needs doing.

this would take poss 2% of the water that is flooding at present.

roadside ditches. i have in the last two years been for parish councils bringing back ditches and reinstating the channels to take the rain water off the roads. this soaks slowly into the ground so this does not run say into rivers.

Bournes riverlets these in the summer are in most part dry but do a essential job in the winter. a lot of these are now overgrown. falling into disrepair or disappeared. if these were maintained. then these would take a percentage of rain water more so than now.

once brought back to there full health would cost minimal to up keep by parishes.

upper reaches of rivers need to be dredged as now silted up weeds growing so there normal catchment has been reduced and can not take the amount of rain full we are having so it then goes down to the bigger rivers.

as in my last email apart from rivers manged by riparian owners to a high standard. some are in a poor state so water builds up and flooding happens. a lot of major rivers are silted up in a bad way and need cleaning out.

the mouths of rivers entering the sea. these need sorting out so at low tide more water can escape into the sea. not trying to get through smaller channels.

if this was done then maybe the flooding we see now may not be as bad as it is.

you say huge pumps are being used to pump water away. the cost of these could be used to do the above in normal times.

also you say the EA are going to be doing major dredging work when we are back to normal times the EA knew of the problems but did nothing saying to locals that the funds were not available now after this major disaster the money has been found to do this work.

once again there needs to be a proper body to look after the rivers. the EA are not fit to do the job. since the demise of the NRA. i have seen a general demise in many water courses from the beginning to the end. the EA are trying to juggle a budget. doing to many things. let the envioroment agencies look after the enviorment eg waste disposal, and the like. and have the NRA do the water side. restocking of fish, maintaining watercourses, helping owners to bring rivers back to there full health through funding.

it makes sense and would work. this is not just my views but many with a interest in the rivers etc and there health.

could go on but i believe i have tried to bring over what needs doing.

yours truly

as you can see went into detail but if it does any good i doubt

[Gnarlyoak]

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.

[White Noise]

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.

 

I,ll second that Gnarlyoak

[difflock]

Unfortunately our Northern Ireland Rivers Agency are complete useless tossers.

Lazy, inept, work dodging shysters, with a humengeous spend on sosphistaced equipment that is entirely underused, neglected and damaged.

From my observations in the local community on local rivers over this past 20 years.

With a few exceptions.

Throwing money at a problem IS NOT the solution.

Leadership and clear direction with a long term plan is required.

Not decisions taken by vote chasing short term politicans.

[Gnarlyoak]

I,ll second that Gnarlyoak

 

You'd say owt for a cuddle you!

Does your missus know it was you that gave her that rash yet?

[Robbyrasta]

I am not sure how long the present guy has been in charge of the environment agency, but the lack of maintence and stuff in sommerset has be occuring over the last decade and a half (at least)

I think its a bit hash to blame the top guy for this- its not all his fault.

[NFG]

Also if they did what you suggest ( and I agree ) it would create a lot of jobs . There always used to be ditch men when I was little maintaining the ditches and culverts . The rivers could be dredged etc etc .....

 

Agreed, would create a lot of jobs in not exactly the most prosperous of areas - I used to work at Highbridge.

 

It must be extremely frustrating for local people to be ignored for so long, the same thing happened a year ago & precious little has happened since.

 

& I agree they are not the cause of the flooding, it was the sly way the BBCs editorial slipped in the comment suggesting so.

 

And there is money available, theres money to fight wars, give to India, flush down the toilet on useless IT projects with little if any benefit, the list is endless, but when it comes to spending on things that really make a difference to people, that seems last on the list.

 

Preventing flooding needs a lot more money & a lot more action of all types which would create a lot more real jobs, it demands 'hands on' leadership with the ability to listen & use companies that know the local land, not a blundering old duffer who cant apologise for his failed leadership & catalogue of departments failures.

 

Im dammed sure it wouldnt happen on my watch.

 

N

[White Noise]

You'd say owt for a cuddle you!

Does your missus know it was you that gave her that rash yet?

 

You behave gimp and keep on the subject at hand