www.managingwater.co.uk Industry News & Views
Industry must unite on flood protection
The NFU has said that in order to protect high value agricultural land from flooding there needs to be a much more effective partnership between farmers, government and the Environment Agency .
There was a strong reaction from farmers when Environment Agency director of flood and coastal defences David Rooke addressed the NFU Council in January. They said they are being prevented from undertaking voluntary maintenance in favour of protecting habitats or biodiversity and that agricultural land is being left to flood. Despite additional expenditure on flood defence being announced there is a belief that long- standing real spending budget cuts have seen river maintenance reach an all-time low, with catastrophic impacts.
NFU Deputy President Meurig Raymond said it was critical the Environment Agency and Defra increase funding for maintenance budgets. He added that Defra policy must re-balance the weighting for flood defence spending to give greater consideration to high value farmland.
“We’ve heard today how farmers are still battling the impacts of wet land. Whether that’s not being able to harvest crops or vegetables or autumn plantings being drowned, there are huge concerns out there,” said Mr Raymond.
“And while the capital budget has been given an additional £120m, in the main for defence projects, we have heard today that the Environment Agency is expected to have £49m less over the next few years to spend on essential things such as maintenance. This is nonsense and has to be reversed.
“Farmers are saying quite clearly that they are prepared to look after rivers and undertake additional drainage on their farm but they are prevented by additional regulations aimed at protecting habitats. Surely we can do both?
“I have heard a welcome offer to work in partnership with the Environment Agency today. This we accept unequivocally, but it must be more than words - we need an honest dialogue and long-term commitment to think and act differently.
“New thinking should include guidelines that make it easier - not more difficult - for farmers to undertake their own maintenance. New partnership approaches between the agency and farmers in some areas and new Independent Drainage Broads would help. We also need to ensure that productive agricultural land is properly valued in terms of long-term value to society, and that its benefits are fairly reflected in any flood management assessment.
“Today we are at the beginning of a dialogue with the agency that should lead to a better environment and more productive farmland. For its part the NFU will continue to lobby ministers in the strongest terms on the urgent need to reverse the decline in spending for essential river maintenance.”
www.nfuonline.com
Government must 'speed up' flood reduction measures
The Environment,Food and Rural Affairs Committee, (EFRA) have published their report scrutinising the draft water bill and say that the Government must speed up the implementation of measures to reduce the flood risk.
They welcomed the Draft Bill as the next step to introducing much needed reform to the water industry and urged the Government to maintain momentum and ensure the timely introduction of the Bill itself.
Flood Risk
Some recommendations made in the Pitt Review have not yet been fully implemented, such as several of the Shoreline Management Plans, which contribute to the Environment Agency’s national overview of flood risk, and local authority local flood Risk Management Strategies have not yet been signed off. They also express concern that local government and the Environment Agency do not pay sufficient attention to dredging and maintenance of water courses, which can have a significant impact on the risk of flooding.
Anne McIntosh, Committee Chair, made the point that many of these recommendations were made up to 5 years ago and went on to say
“Widespread flooding has once again wrought devastation and heartache in communities across the country, including in my constituency. Solutions that would reduce the impact of flooding are out there and would make a difference but successive governments have not had the mettle to put them into practice,"
SuDS
Great concern was expressed over the further postponement of the implementation of the Flood and Water Management Act’s provisions on Sustainable Drainage Systems, to April 2014, especially with parts of England and Wales once again being hit by flooding for which surface water a major contributory factor.
Provisions such as removing the right to lay impermeable surfaces as of right on back gardens and business premises; removing the automatic right to connect surface water drainage of new developments to the sewerage system; and resolving the ownership and maintenance of SuDs. The committees report on the White Paper criticised the lack of urgency in Defra’s work to improve the management of surface water and they urged the Department to ensure that implementation of the FWMA’s provisions was not subject to any further unnecessary delay.
Flood Insurance
On the matter of flood insurance, the lack of progress 'deeply worried' the Committee and the Draft Bill does not include any specific clauses relating to flood insurance.
They called on the Government to establish more details of the legislative solutions that are being considered, if it becomes necessary to go down that route; and in particular what consideration has been given to the basis on which flood insurance would be provided during the period between the expiry of the Statement of Principles and Royal Assent to a Water Act.
The full report is available HERE and the Additional evidence report HERE
www.fadsdirectory.com 7
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48