Treasured
coastal spots have
suffered years-worth
of erosion and
damage in just a few
weeks or even hours
as a result of the
wild winter storms,
the National Trust
has said.The high
winds and waves that
repeatedly battered
the UK in a series
of storms have left
cliffs crumbling,
beaches and sand
dunes eroded,
defences breached,
and shorelines and
harbours
damaged. The
storms have caused
the kind of damage
the Trust was
expecting, but not
for some years to
come, and the
organisation is
warning that with
more extreme weather
predicted, the rate
of change on the
coasts will speed
up. Hard defences,
such as sea walls,
are unlikely to be
the best solution to
coping with the
forces of nature on
our coasts, the
Trust said, and more
long-term planning
is needed to
minimise the impact
of the changing
climate.
At
Birling Gap on the
East Sussex coast,
which marks the
start of the white
chalk cliffs of the
Seven Sisters, and
has a cafe, car
park, hotel and
cottages, the speed
of erosion has been
“breathtaking”,
according to Jane
Cecil, National
Trust general
manager for the
South Downs. “We’ve
had about seven
years of erosion in
just two months. As
a result of this
loss of coastline,
we are having to act
now and take down
the sun lounge and
ice cream parlour,
safeguarding the
integrity of the
rest of the
building. We have to
think long term,”
she said. At
Rhossili on the
Gower Peninsula,
constant rain and
relentless stormy
weather has washed
away the main access
path for the
beautiful sandy
beach, and it will
need to be rebuilt
so it can be easily
repaired and
realigned to cope
with future erosion.
Alan Kearsley-Evans,
the Trust’s
countryside manager
for Gower, said:
“We’d be planning
for this happening
but in 10 years’
time, not now. ”
And
at Formby, on the
Sefton coast in
Merseyside, the
storms and high
tides have seen sand
dunes eroding faster
than predicted. Kate
Martin, area ranger
at Formby, said: “In
December we had two
years of erosion in
one afternoon and
we’re working hard
to look at how we
manage this intense
change at a
much-loved stretch
of the Sefton coast
as dunes are lost
and access points
become more
difficult to manage
due to the formation
of dune cliffs and
sand blow.”
Other
sites affected by
the winter storms
include Mullion
Harbour in Cornwall,
important wildlife
sites at Blakeney,
Norfolk, and Orford
Ness, Suffolk,
Murlough national
nature reserve in
Northern Ireland,
and Brownsea Island,
Dorset. The National
Trust owns more than
740 miles of
coastline around
England, Wales and
Northern Ireland,
around a 10th of the
total coastline for
the three countries.
Peter
Nixon, director of
land, landscape and
nature at the
National Trust, said
what was happening
at the
organisation’s sites
was “a very good
canary of what is
happening in the
broader environment
and the absolute
imperative we
understand what our
changing climate
means to us”.He said
the recent extremes
had been surprising,
but were to be
expected with a
changing climate,
and while huge
storms had caused
years-worth of
damage in one go in
the past, their
frequency seemed to
be increasing as
well as their
intensity.
“We’re
expecting more
extremes, less
predictability, more
stormy events,
combined with an
underlying issue of
rising sea levels,”
he said, adding that
sea levels were
rising because the
south of England was
sinking and the
ocean was expanding
as a result of
warming
temperatures. He
warned against
falling into the
trap of believing
“we can engineer our
way out of this”,
which in the
majority of cases he
said he did not
think was true. The
National Trust did
not rule out the use
of hard sea
defences, but he
said there was a
need to be aware of
the impact they
could have on the
coast, the
difficulty of
maintaining them in
the long term in the
face of the forces
of nature working
against them, and
what happened if
they failed. “We all
have to be sensitive
to those who have
become dependent on
artificial defences,
but if you keep up
defending, you build
up the risk of a
catastrophic event.
“A false sense of
security in
artificial defences
can lead you to a
catastrophic
collapse, as opposed
to a managed
impact.” He
added: “You can’t
hold the line
everywhere, it’s
physically
impossible and it’s
not good for
society.”
Mr
Nixon said not
enough funding or
focus was going
towards long-term
planning to help
coastal communities
adapt to potential
changes to the
coastline, and said
government, local
authorities and
organisations needed
to help people whose
lives and businesses
were dependent on
engineered defences
to adjust to what
was happening around
them. The National
Trust has a role to
play in increasing
understanding of how
nature is changing
the coasts, and to
demonstrate how
those changes could
be managed. He
pointed to places
where “soft
defences” such as
coastal marshes were
taking out the power
of storm surges and
preventing flooding
inland. And he said
that people who
might be shocked at
the changes they saw
the next time they
visited one of their
well-loved coastal
sites should see the
alterations as a
process of natural
change. “If you
would have come here
30 years prior it
would have been
different, but we
need to expect a
greater rate of
change,” he said.
|
Some of the
damage from the recent
floods could have been
prevented if the
correct water
management techniques
had been used, a group
of experts has said.
In an open letter, the
experts – representing
15 organisations
including the
Institution of
Environmental
Sciences, the
Chartered Institution
of Water and
Environmental
Management and the
Royal Institution of
Chartered Surveyors -
urged David Cameron to
convene a
cross-departmental
conference bringing
together Whitehall
departments, the
Environment Agency and
the professions to put
in place measures to
prevent a repeat of
the current floods.
The call came as
shadow chancellor Ed
Balls pledged that
investment in flood
defences would be a
priority for an
incoming Labour
government.
Writing in the Daily
Telegraph, Mr Balls
accused the coalition
Government of
“short-termist
salami-slicing” of
budgets for flood
defences, and said
that 300
“shovel-ready” schemes
were shelved last year
because of lack of
funding. The
open letter, also
published in the
Telegraph, set out
technical measures
which could cut the
risk of future floods,
including the use of
forestry and land
management to hold
back water in the
upper reaches of
rivers as well as
dredging to ease
problems in the lower
reaches.
The experts said that
sustainable drainage
systems should be
fitted on existing and
new buildings and that
buildings and land
that cannot be
properly protected
should be made
resilient to withstand
flooding. All new
housing on flood
plains should be
resilient when built,
they said.
“While we are pleased
to hear that the Prime
Minister will provide
leadership and
funding, it is
essential that
government actions are
based on best practice
developed over many
years,” said the
letter. “Water
management techniques
could have helped
prevent the effect of
flooding on villages,
towns and over
surrounding land seen
recently. Emergency
measures are in order
for the immediate
crisis. But in the
long term, the
management of water
requires a clear
strategy.” The
letter came a day
after the Met Office
confirmed that the UK
has suffered its
wettest winter in
records dating back
more than a century.
Figures for December 1
to February 19 show
that the UK has had
486.8mm (19.2 inches)
of rain, making it the
wettest winter in
records dating back to
1910, beating the
previous record set in
1995 of 485.1mm (19.1
inches).
Two severe flood
warnings remain in
place in the Somerset
Levels, which has been
one of the worst-hit
areas this winter,
suffering prolonged
flooding in the face
of repeated storms and
heavy rain.
Across the rest of
southern and central
England, the risk of
flooding is receding
as river levels fall,
including along the
Thames and Severn, the
Environment Agency
said.
But properties in
areas including
Windsor and
Maidenhead, Surrey,
Buckinghamshire,
Wokingham and West
Berkshire could remain
flooded for some time.
And with more
unsettled weather on
the way, the risk of
flooding will be slow
to disappear, the
Environment Agency
warned.
There are 70 flood
warnings, and 119 less
serious flood alerts
currently in place
across England and
Wales. Groundwater is
continuing to rise,
with continuing
flooding in parts of
Greater London, Kent,
Hampshire, Wiltshire
and Dorset.
Mr Balls said that a
review carried out for
Labour by Olympic
supremo Sir John
Armitt had identified
the construction of
flood defences which
can cope with the
potential effects of
climate change as “a
national priority”.
Sir John will soon
publish draft
legislation to create
an independent
National
Infrastructure
Commission to identify
the UK’s long-term
infrastructure needs
and hold governments
of all political
colours to account for
delivering them.
Writing in the Daily
Telegraph, Mr Balls
said: “Of course, if
Labour wins the next
election, there will
need to be spending
cuts. There will be a
big deficit still to
be brought down after
the global financial
crisis and the
Chancellor (George
Osborne) is set to
break his promise to
balance the books by
2015.
“But how we make those
cuts is vital. Our
zero-based review of
public spending - a
root-and-branch review
of every pound spent
by government from the
bottom up - is clear
that we must eliminate
waste and
inefficiencies, but
also prioritise
preventative spending
that can save money in
the long term.
“There can be few
better examples than
investment in flood
defences.”
Spending on defences
was boosted after the
2007 floods, but the
coalition Government
then cut it by 17% in
real terms in 2010,
said Mr Balls. “Even
after announcements in
recent weeks, the
House of Commons
Library says that
Government spending on
flood defences is
lower in real terms
during this spending
review period than the
last one,” he said.
“Meanwhile, there were
over 300 shovel-ready
flood-defence projects
last year that could
have been built but
weren’t due to lack of
funding.”
Citing a recent
warning from the
Committee on Climate
Change that investment
in flood defences was
£500 million below
what was needed and
that this risked £3
billion in avoidable
flood damage, Mr Balls
said: “How can this
make economic sense?
Rather than the
short-termist
salami-slicing of
budgets we have seen,
we need instead to
make long-term
decisions now that can
save money in the
future.“Next month’s
Budget must begin to
set out that action,
and I am also clear
that investment in
flood defences –
preventative spending
that can save money in
the long-run – must
and will be a priority
for the next Labour
government.”
Read more:
http://www.westerndailypress.co.uk/Experts-say-flood-damage-preventable/story-20675408-detail/story.html?ito=email_newsletter_westerndailypress#ixzz2uR5IpGSZ
From
Lorri Bee
This Is
Floodsey.
Our Emblem for
Flood Relief
LOST
and want's to go
home!! Rescued
from the flood's
in North Curry on
26/2/14 Would love
to help him find
his owner! Has
anyone lost a
little toy dog?
He's now in the
warm, i shall
clean him up and
hope we can get
this little dog
back with his
owner again soon!!
Please Share - he
want's to go
home!! contact:https://www.facebook.com/lorri.bee.18
|
Dairy
farmer Eavis urged the
government to restart
dredging repeatedly
By Michael Eavis
Founder Of The
Glastonbury Festival
Honestly, the
temptation to say, ‘We
told you so’ is just
about overwhelming,
because those clowns
at the Environment
Agency certainly can’t
say they weren’t
warned.
We told them the
Somerset Levels, or
Moors as we locals
call them, would flood
again unless they
restarted dredging the
rivers 12 months ago,
when the Moors were
flooded by last
winter’s heavy rain.
And we told them
again, four months
ago, when I helped
launch a fund to
raise the £4million
needed to get dredging
under way. Somerset
dairy farmer and
Glastonbury Festival
boss Michael Eavis
says he warned the
government repeatedly
that the Somerset
levels would flood
unless they restarted
dredging
And we’ve gone
on telling them week
in, week out that
unless they restart
dredging on the three
main rivers that drain
the Moors – the
Parrett, the Tone and
the Brue – then the
Moors aren’t going to
flood once every 20
years as they used to,
they are going to
flood every year, as
they seem to be doing
now.
And what have
the Environment Agency
done in response?
There’s been a lot of
running around with
sandbags and water
pumps, but in terms of
something meaningful
that might stop it
happening again?
Absolutely
nothing.
Environment Secretary
Owen Paterson and his
civil service
underlings seem keener
to spend millions
protecting river
oysters, water voles
and umpteen species of
birds than a single
penny on protecting
the hard-working
farming families who
are just trying to
make an honest living
from the land.
The Environment Agency
just don’t seem to get
that.
When Mr Paterson came
to the area at the
weekend he brought a
police escort but no
wellington boots.
Given that he was
visiting folk who
haven’t been able to
take their wellies off
for a month, that
wasn’t his cleverest
move. But let me
explain why I care so
passionately about the
situation here in
Somerset.
There will be those of
you who’ve come to
Glastonbury Festival,
which I started in
1970 on our farm, or
watched it on the
telly and seen it
surrounded by gently
rolling hills. And
you’re quite right,
Worthy Farm is not on
the Moors.
But our land runs down
to them and because we
run a dairy farm
alongside Britain’s
biggest music festival
we’ve always had to
rent extra land on the
Moors. Now, we’re
relatively lucky. That
land, which we use for
grazing and
producing silage, is
waterlogged but it’s
not flooded. But a few
miles down the road,
we’ve got friends who
are in absolutely
desperate straits.
One family I know,
who’ve farmed in the
area for generations,
were technically
bankrupt last week,
until the non-farming
members of the family
rallied round and
provided them with
emergency funds.
However, there will be
other families – and
there are at least 500
farming families in
the area – who won’t
be so lucky.
That’s what Mr
Paterson and the
Environment Agency
don’t seem to get.
With many farms being
flooded for the second
time in two years,
livelihoods are being
lost and businesses
being destroyed before
their eyes.
And yet when Somerset
County Council and
Sedgemoor District
Council rightly
declared the flooding
a major incident, some
almost seemed to find
it a joke.
Well, I’m sorry, Mr
Paterson; I’m a
Somerset man born and
bred and what’s going
on here is no laughing
matter. It’s a
disaster and that’s
why this £4million
fund is needed now
more than ever. What
is so utterly
heartbreaking, though,
is that’s it’s a
disaster that should
have been avoided.
For decades –
certainly for my
entire lifetime – the
low-lying Moors have
relied on the dredging
of the main rivers to
stop the land
flooding. But nearly
20 years ago, all that
changed. First, the
wildlife and
conservation lobby
steadily grew ever
more influential.
Very soon,
conservationists,
naturalists and
organisations such as
the Royal Society for
the Protection of
Birds were the good
guys and we farmers
were the enemy. As a
result, the dredging
was stopped and the
money saved was
diverted into
conservation.
Environment
Secretary Owen
Paterson said on
Monday that officials
had failed to properly
stop the flooding, and
that dredging should
restart in Somerset
My estimate is that
over the last two
decades, the
Environment Agency and
related bodies have
spent £40million on
projects to encourage
birds and other forms
of wildlife on the
Moors. And now we’re
seeing the
consequences of those
actions.
For more than 15
years, the rivers have
been silting up and
their flow rates have
been falling – water-
carrying capacity on
the Tone and
Parrett, for example,
is said to be down by
between a third and
two thirds. That’s a
massive reduction and
the result is
inevitable.
The rivers back up,
the drainage ditches –
or rhynes as we call
them – also back up
and suddenly the
rainwater has nowhere
else to go.
That’s why the Moors
are flooding more
often but it’s also
why, when they have
flooded, the water
hangs around for so
long. Thanks to the
silted rivers, it
can’t go anywhere.
Before I was a
festival organiser, I
was – and remain – a
Somerset dairy farmer
and we have to know
about drainage. Our
livelihoods depend on
it.
That why’s the network
of ditches, streams
and rivers at Worthy
Farm are kept in
pretty good nick. We
need them to do their
job and carry water
off the land and into
the sea.
The flooding on the
Somerset Levels is on
a completely different
scale. It’s
catastrophic and it
needs action now.
Thankfully, there are
signs that, albeit 20
years too late, the
Environment Agency are
beginning to
listen. But
they’ve got to listen
to the people who live
and work in the area
and know how to manage
this unique tract of
land – and I’m far
from certain that they
will.
The old dredging
machinery – which was
built to last – is
still around and could
be called back into
service quite quickly.
The same goes for
several of the former
driver-operators, who
are now retired but
keen to do their bit
to get the land they
love back to doing
what it does best:
Growing lush grass
pasture. But we have
to do things properly
and sensibly.
With more rain on its
way, there’s no
end in sight for the
poor, flood-affected
residents of the
Moors, who have now
endured almost a month
with their land under
water. But as soon as
it recedes and the
land dries out enough
to support heavy
machinery, those
excavators have to be
set to work. After 20
years of standing
idle, it’s time
for the dredging
to begin again.
Read more:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2548435/I-warned-Environment-Agency-clowns-flooding-chaos-repeatedly-says-Glastonbury-boss-Somerset-farmer-Michael-Eavis.html#ixzz2uR7OgJ5J
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