A flood of criticism

[kevin3]

  So rivers only take 6 years to silt up.? And who says i'm a Tory. I WAS a born and bred Labour supporter and member

  until Blair and his lies cured me of that. If only he could have done for our economy what he's done for his bank balances.   

[Colwyn]

If I were the head of the Environment Agency who had had to deal with repeated cuts to my budgets over the preceding years ... I think I would have stayed exactly where I was.

I see the point you are making Nicola and in other circumstances might agree. But Sir James Bevan, the Head (CEO) of the Environment Agency only took over the job on 30 November 2015 - just a month ago. Surely he had some idea what he was taking on? And why he was being rewarded so handsomely for doing it.

[Highlander]

It's entirely possible that the holiday was booked during his previous employment and that his new employers agreed to honour that arrangement when they took him on.

[Colwyn]

And it is entirely possible to curtail your holiday (whenever it was booked) when there is a major disaster concerning a matter for which you have senior executive responsibility.

[kevin3]

  In the last 5 years the UK has given £ 1,5 billion in aid to India. That's the same India that has a space program to get to Mars,
  the same India that has just signed up a £multi billion deal with China for a Bullet train system, and a £multi billion deal with
  Russia to build Nuclear Power Stations and provide India with a new Missile System.
  I bet the people affected by these and previous floods would like to know how much was spent on the UK's flood defence's
  during those 5 years.?
  I seem to remember the EU giving  Turkey, a non member, money to carry out flood and drainage works, some of which was
  supposedly spent in the Fethiye / Calis area's.  I wonder how much the EU has given the UK, and it's flood victims.??

[Colwyn]

The UK doesn't claim these kind of benefits from the EU. This is because Maggie's Magical Rebate had a clause in it which stated that when Britain got EU special cause grant it has to top it up to the full amount it would have been without the rebate (e.g. a 2/3rds rebate means that when the EU chips in 1 million the UK tops it up by 2 million). Since the Treasury isn't in the business of helping out ordinary citizens it doesn't agree any UK bids to the EU. Just ask the people in Cornwall who qualify for oppressed area status but cannot apply for EU help because HM Gov forbids it.

[nichola]

If I were the head of the Environment Agency who had had to deal with repeated cuts to my budgets over the preceding years ... I think I would have stayed exactly where I was.

I see the point you are making Nicola and in other circumstances might agree. But Sir James Bevan, the Head (CEO) of the Environment Agency only took over the job on 30 November 2015 - just a month ago. Surely he had some idea what he was taking on? And why he was being rewarded so handsomely for doing it.

Still think it is a red herring to detract from those actually responsible for the havoc the floods have caused and the devastated lives and livelihoods.

In post a month, well paid or not he is not personally responsible and can hardly be called to account, and if he turned up what difference would it make. But the Tory/Lib Dem coalition and this Tory government are responsible for the decreased spending on flood defenses. it's not to say that there wouldn't have been floods if Labour had continued in office but the fact of the matter is that they were increasing spending and the others have decreased it is not unreasonable to conclude that the consequences could have been less severe.

That is something worth talking about because it is just one public service of many that have taken a hit over the past six years, public services which should be about providing for and protection the people, just this one is more visible and in your face than some of the others!

From the Office for National Statistics - year on year increased spending under Labour, year on year decreasing expenditure under the coalition and Tory government. Not sure why it stops at 2013 but we all know there have been more cuts in the last couple of years. Also worth noting how very little was being spent when Labour took office in 1997...

Figure 12.1: Environmental protection expenditure by government, 1997 to 2013
United Kingdom

[stoop]

It seems our wonderful EU have most to answer to regarding river dredging and deeming any silt hazardous waste.

[nichola]

I think it is a bit more complicated than that, and wasn't it the UK Environment Agency working in Brussels that pioneered the policy!! We would have had this river dredging policy with or without the EU!

Two excellent articles by George Monbiot explain more...

"Maize is being grown in Britain not to feed people, but to feed livestock and, increasingly, the biofuel business. This false solution to climate change will make the impacts of climate change much worse, by reducing the land's capacity to hold water."

"The Labour government in 2005 it published a devastating catalogue of the impacts of changes in land use. As well as the loss of fertility from the land and the poisoning of watercourses, it warned, "increased run-off and sediment deposition can also increase flood hazard in rivers". Maize, it warned, is a particular problem because the soil stays bare before and after the crop is harvested, without the stubble or weeds required to bind it. "Wherever possible," it urged, "avoid growing forage maize on high and very high erosion risk areas."

The Labour government turned this advice into conditions attached to farm subsidies. Ground cover crops should be sown under the maize and the land should be ploughed, then resown with winter cover plants within 10 days of harvesting, to prevent water from sheeting off. So why isn't this happening?

Because the current government dropped the conditions. Sorry, not just dropped them. It issued – wait for it – a specific exemption for maize cultivation from all soil conservation measures."

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/feb/17/farmers-uk-flood-maize-soil-protection

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/georgemonbiot/2014/mar/14/uk-ban-maize-biogas

[kevin3]

  " The Cuts " some people are are blaming on the Tories/Coalition were caused by the previous Chancellor leaving us in the Brown stuff.

 Borrowing money he couldn't repay in order to buy votes and waste on crackpot schemes. In Labours 13 years in power did they sort

  out the NHS.? Sort out crime and the causes of crime.? Sort out Education, education, education.? Do you remember Blair's mantra's.?

  And when the EU imposed their anti dredging legislation on the UK in 2000, which political party was in power.? Short selective memory's.