River Lugg, Herefordshire

Frank-the-Wool said:

Our local EA boss recently admitted to the IDB that it did not have the funds to do essential work that benefitted agriculture. They have too many staff but not enough of the important people who do the essential work in managing issues on the ground.
I have a block of land that adjoins a seawall and has a ditch along which is designed to take any salt water should it overtop the wall. Occasionally this happens with high tides and gale force winds. The wall was put in around 1950 and there is a culvert under the wall back into the sea from the ditch to return the water to the sea at low tide.
A couple of years ago the Penstock and the non return flaps had deteriorated. The EA managed to replace some of the non return flaps but erosion and rust mean the whole system needs replacement. It took the EA nearly two years to partially repair the Penstock which still leaks at high tide.
They had stopped reed cutting the ditch and used excuses such as no money and having to do environmental surveys. This year they have half cut the reeds but the ditch is silted and the culverts blocked under bridges that go to farmland. It is around 2 miles long.
The blocked culverts meant that our fields were being flooded. It also added to the flood risk for the villages at each end.
After once again being told they were unable to do anything as they could not disturb the Water Voles and anyway had no money in the budget to do anything, I have started to fix it.
The Water Voles don't like salt water and as it had been leaking through for a couple of years had cleared off to the ditches behind anyway.

I have now cleared the culverts and cleaned out a 200 metre section of the ditch.
I await my prosecution and perhaps a few TFF members will visit me when I am inside.

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Frank-the-Wool said:

Our local EA boss recently admitted to the IDB that it did not have the funds to do essential work that benefitted agriculture. They have too many staff but not enough of the important people who do the essential work in managing issues on the ground.

I have now cleared the culverts and cleaned out a 200 metre section of the ditch.
I await my prosecution and perhaps a few TFF members will visit me when I am inside.

Click to expand...

Frank-the-Wool said:

Our local EA boss recently admitted to the IDB that it did not have the funds to do essential work that benefitted agriculture. They have too many staff but not enough of the important people who do the essential work in managing issues on the ground.
I have a block of land that adjoins a seawall and has a ditch along which is designed to take any salt water should it overtop the wall. Occasionally this happens with high tides and gale force winds. The wall was put in around 1950 and there is a culvert under the wall back into the sea from the ditch to return the water to the sea at low tide.
A couple of years ago the Penstock and the non return flaps had deteriorated. The EA managed to replace some of the non return flaps but erosion and rust mean the whole system needs replacement. It took the EA nearly two years to partially repair the Penstock which still leaks at high tide.
They had stopped reed cutting the ditch and used excuses such as no money and having to do environmental surveys. This year they have half cut the reeds but the ditch is silted and the culverts blocked under bridges that go to farmland. It is around 2 miles long.
The blocked culverts meant that our fields were being flooded. It also added to the flood risk for the villages at each end.
After once again being told they were unable to do anything as they could not disturb the Water Voles and anyway had no money in the budget to do anything, I have started to fix it.
The Water Voles don't like salt water and as it had been leaking through for a couple of years had cleared off to the ditches behind anyway.

I have now cleared the culverts and cleaned out a 200 metre section of the ditch.
I await my prosecution and perhaps a few TFF members will visit me when I am inside.

Click to expand...

Frank-the-Wool said:

Our local EA boss recently admitted to the IDB that it did not have the funds to do essential work that benefitted agriculture. They have too many staff but not enough of the important people who do the essential work in managing issues on the ground.
I have a block of land that adjoins a seawall and has a ditch along which is designed to take any salt water should it overtop the wall. Occasionally this happens with high tides and gale force winds. The wall was put in around 1950 and there is a culvert under the wall back into the sea from the ditch to return the water to the sea at low tide.
A couple of years ago the Penstock and the non return flaps had deteriorated. The EA managed to replace some of the non return flaps but erosion and rust mean the whole system needs replacement. It took the EA nearly two years to partially repair the Penstock which still leaks at high tide.

Click to expand...

steveR said:

Out of interest, what sort of dimensions are the non-return flaps you describe?

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Frank-the-Wool said:

Our local EA boss recently admitted to the IDB that it did not have the funds to do essential work that benefitted agriculture. They have too many staff but not enough of the important people who do the essential work in managing issues on the ground.
I have a block of land that adjoins a seawall and has a ditch along which is designed to take any salt water should it overtop the wall. Occasionally this happens with high tides and gale force winds. The wall was put in around 1950 and there is a culvert under the wall back into the sea from the ditch to return the water to the sea at low tide.
A couple of years ago the Penstock and the non return flaps had deteriorated. The EA managed to replace some of the non return flaps but erosion and rust mean the whole system needs replacement. It took the EA nearly two years to partially repair the Penstock which still leaks at high tide.
They had stopped reed cutting the ditch and used excuses such as no money and having to do environmental surveys. This year they have half cut the reeds but the ditch is silted and the culverts blocked under bridges that go to farmland. It is around 2 miles long.
The blocked culverts meant that our fields were being flooded. It also added to the flood risk for the villages at each end.
After once again being told they were unable to do anything as they could not disturb the Water Voles and anyway had no money in the budget to do anything, I have started to fix it.
The Water Voles don't like salt water and as it had been leaking through for a couple of years had cleared off to the ditches behind anyway.

I have now cleared the culverts and cleaned out a 200 metre section of the ditch.
I await my prosecution and perhaps a few TFF members will visit me when I am inside.

Click to expand...

ollie989898 said:

Well, there it is. You couldn't make it up. These EA bods have a lot to answer for. Too busy looking at the wildlife and couldn't give a fudge about anyone's home, business or livelihood. I believe it is only a matter of time before there is a serious flood event which triggers a debate in parliament and they have drainage and flood prevention taken away from them totally. You need a good gang of civil engineers and some people who know how to operate machinery, lay pipes and concrete to sort this. Not legions of folk with ecology degrees.

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ollie989898 said:

Well, there it is. You couldn't make it up. These EA bods have a lot to answer for. Too busy looking at the wildlife and couldn't give a fudge about anyone's home, business or livelihood. I believe it is only a matter of time before there is a serious flood event which triggers a debate in parliament and they have drainage and flood prevention taken away from them totally. You need a good gang of civil engineers and some people who know how to operate machinery, lay pipes and concrete to sort this. Not legions of folk with ecology degrees.

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holwellcourtfarm said:

The root of the problem is that the environment, especially key species, are protected in law so it's a criminal offence to interfere with them. Defence from flooding is not a legal duty so comes lower in the risk balance. It will take a major debate and legal change to redress this balance.

Nothing is ever as simple as people make out.

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holwellcourtfarm said:

The root of the problem is that the environment, especially key species, are protected in law so it's a criminal offence to interfere with them. Defence from flooding is not a legal duty so comes lower in the risk balance. It will take a major debate and legal change to redress this balance.

Nothing is ever as simple as people make out.

Click to expand...

holwellcourtfarm said:

The root of the problem is that the environment, especially key species, are protected in law so it's a criminal offence to interfere with them. Defence from flooding is not a legal duty so comes lower in the risk balance. It will take a major debate and legal change to redress this balance.

The failing flood defences are just a matter of political priority though: the money is pushed into sexy new defence schemes that politicians can announce and be photographed with and away from maintaining what's already there. This started about 15 years ago and carries through into the loss of key knowledge as experienced staff leave in despair at the decline. I hear the most worrying thing is that many of the staff now lack the knowledge and experience to know just what risks are being taken. Baseline reset syndrome means those staff engaged since the decline started think the current situation is normal and acceptable.

Nothing is ever as simple as people make out.

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Steevo said:

So they can't dig a ditch because they might damage some key species of plants...?

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fieldfarmer said:

So does road building or that new train track come under a legal duty or is it just another excuse?

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ollie989898 said:

I would agree with that but then point out that the EA have not been in existence forever and the drainage boards, landowners and local authorities/River authority managed fine before?

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holwellcourtfarm said:

Different departments working under different legislation.

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fieldfarmer said:

Obviously, but is it not the same law for the same critters? Or are you saying the law doesn't apply to some departments?

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