NOW SUPERSEDED BY – Flooding in Wraysbury and nearby – DHWNEWS
STATEMENT ON FLOODING – FROM EWAN LARCOMBE 15-1-2024
This is a personal statement. I have now witnessed four flood events around here this century and in my opinion the situation is going from bad to worse for the following reasons (and in no particular order)
a) Climate change may be beyond our control but action has not been taken (by the Authorities) to combat the effects.
b) The Authorities continue to permit (and promote) ever more development on flood plain.
c) The Authorities are happy to build new flood alleviation schemes to move flood water elsewhere but simultaneously fail to maintain the existing land drainage infrastructure. The EA has not dredged Thames since 1996 when they took over from NRA – they disposed of dredgers and operators without consultation – closed the disposal sites – and did not comply with the recommendations of the 2004 Mechanisms of Flooding report.
d) The Floods and Water Management Act (2010) identifies authorities and allocates responsibility for the different types of flooding – but imposes NO DUTY on those authorities to take any action.
e) The ‘partnership funding’ policy introduced in 2011 was used by RBWM, the EA and Surrey County Council in 2020 to remove Channel One from the River Thames Scheme without consultation or notice.
f) The Wraysbury Drain (an ordinary watercourse) has been blocked for years. Some money has been spent (actually wasted) but the channel is still blocked today.
AND THE BOTTOM LINE IS?
This is a geopolitical problem. You have been abandoned and repeatedly failed by the authorities for decades. You have paid the wages of people who do not keep their promises and who hide the truth. The Datchet to Hythe End Flood Improvement Measures project is a sub-standard (i.e. cheap) replacement for the River Thames Scheme Channel One.
WHAT CAN YOU DO NOW?
This Parish Council has previously confirmed that it will object to the NSIP DCO on the River Thames Scheme. The mandatory pre-application consultation opens on 22/1/2024 for six weeks but Datchet, Horton and Wraysbury have been omitted from this consultation.
Please be assured that you will have an opportunity to give your views on the River Thames Scheme and that further details will be supplied as they become available.
END