Sacrificing farm land during a flood to protect properties downstream

Spotty Dog

Member
Location
Northumberland
I farm arable land next to the river Tyne in Northumberland. The EA have decided they want to reduce the height of the flood bank surrounding my land in order to let it flood when the river rises and hold water to protect houses in the village downstream. Have any forum members anywhere else in the country had this done to them as well and what are the pros and cons and do i have any say in the matter ?
I am a tenant farmer.
 
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Brisel

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Midlands
I farm arable land next to the river Tyne in Northumberland. The EA have decided they want to reduce the height of the flood bank surrounding my land in order to let it flood when the river rises and hold water to protect houses in the village downstream. Have any forum members anywhere else in the country had this done to them as well and what are the pros and cons and do i have any say in the matter ?
I am a tenant farmer.

Take legal advice on this, starting with the TFA and NFU. This the kind of "public goods" Gove was talking about but not when it's your risk for no reward. Being a tenant doesn't help.

Google Stephen Watkins. He has land alongside the Severn and wasn't afraid to use a digger to protect his land from flooding ;)
 

beef 1

Member
Location
north yorkshire
It has been proposed on our land for the last 20 yrs, but they don't have the money to put it in place ! (That isn't to compensate )
After the last bad floods in 2015 we had a quote from a local utilities firm for a clean up, as part of the flood recovery fund .Quote was£26000 + vat.
I attended a nfu meeting about the clean ups and recovery fund allocation , attended by ea reps, when asked about help and/or financial assistance . They stressed they had no money , or labour/time to assist with any cleaning up, and the recovery funding was for proven damage replacements , not incidental debris collection /disposal .I gave it to nfu to see if they could make anything of it ,and never heard a thing since .
The EA wont pay for nothing , not even a cup of tea!!!
 

mo!

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
York
We have had this situation for over 40 years. We are upstream of York and there are two schemes which do similar things. We get less floods than if there was no bank, but when we do get a big flood it can be held ("managed") on our land longer than it would naturally. We have had trouble with the EA in the past when they have failed to manage the system properly and there is no recourse. We receive no compensation for the flooding which can be as much as 12' deep.
 

digger64

Member
I farm arable land next to the river Tyne in Northumberland. The EA have decided they want to reduce the height of the flood bank surrounding my land in order to let it flood when the river rises and hold water to protect houses in the village downstream. Have any forum members anywhere else in the country had this done to them as well and what are the pros and cons and do i have any say in the matter ?
I am a tenant farmer.
Its a political scam , they haven't got the resources to maintain the river so are using natural England money to say they have done something if it floods houses , as the river eventually silts up they are putting the at risk houses more at risk regardless of the height of the banks , they are doing it here protecting houses that no one locally can remember actually having a problem with the river , so I expect they will claim it has worked really well helped the wild life , destroyed some land though that was hard won in the past
 

Steevo

Member
Location
Gloucestershire
It's OTE="Spotty Dog, post: 5880956, member: 715"]I farm arable land next to the river Tyne in Northumberland. The EA have decided they want to reduce the height of the flood bank surrounding my land in order to let it flood when the river rises and hold water to protect houses in the village downstream. Have any forum members anywhere else in the country had this done to them as well and what are the pros and cons and do i have any say in the matter ?
I am a tenant farmer.
Its a political scam , they haven't got the resources to maintain the river so are using natural England money to say they have done something if it floods houses , as the river eventually silts up they are putting the at risk houses more at risk regardless of the height of the banks , they are doing it here protecting houses that no one locally can remember actually having a problem with the river , so I expect they will claim it has worked really well helped the wild life , destroyed some land though that was hard won in the past[/QUOTE]

It’s amazing isn’t it.....agriculture gets the blame for wildlife reductions.....and yet large scale flooding of animal habitats encouraged by humans is considered perfectly acceptable.

Dare I ask what happens if there are badger setts on this flooded land?
 

digger64

Member
Its a political scam , they haven't got the resources to maintain the river so are usingoverflowing gland money to say they have done something if it floods houses , as the river eventually silts up they are putting the at risk houses more at risk regardless of the height of the banks , they are doing it here protecting houses that no one locally can remember actually having a problem with the river , so I expect they will claim it has worked really well helped the wild life , destroyed some land though that was hard won in the past

It’s amazing isn’t it.....agriculture gets the blame for wildlife reductions.....and yet large scale flooding of animal habitats encouraged by humans is considered perfectly acceptable.

Dare I ask what happens if there are badger setts on this flooded land?[/QUOTE]
We had a meeting in the village ,the main land drainage outfall into the river has no fall , 10 years earlier lots of houses had cess pits overflowing into gardens ,well away from the river , as the water table rose, when the main drain was cleared to river after years of neglect it was sorted - they plan to hold water up with felled trees where the outfall is !
They wanted to encourage wading birds etc but didn't acknowledge they would destroy the habitat of the wildlife already there . They won't listen to anyone , how digging massive holes then leaving large raised spoil heaps on the flood plain makes any difference to the water holding capacity is beyond me also bunging the outfalls back to the river means that when the next surge comes downstream the land concerned is already saturated .
It's amazing what they define as public goods , the landowner has got payments contracted for several years as it is a trial
 

Exfarmer

Member
Location
Bury St Edmunds
I farm arable land next to the river Tyne in Northumberland. The EA have decided they want to reduce the height of the flood bank surrounding my land in order to let it flood when the river rises and hold water to protect houses in the village downstream. Have any forum members anywhere else in the country had this done to them as well and what are the pros and cons and do i have any say in the matter ?
I am a tenant farmer.

when was the flood bank installed? if it was placed there to protect the land from flooding, due to the construction of a mill requiring impounding the river, there is a fair chance there is an act of parliament, which may be ancient.
To impound the river always required an act of parliament, and normally it was a requirement to protect landowners above from flooding, by erecting levees and back ditches which would drain below the weir. these rights were in perpetuity, which made old mills very difficult to sell due to the liability.
These liabilities were taken over by the EA in the 1980's, when they assumed many of the responsibilities of the old river boards.
It certainly is the realms of serious Barristers and their associated costs I am afraid. You should be compensated for your losses but I am not over hopeful as the EA are very high handed and tenants will be far down their list of priorities
Speak to the NFU quickly or /and TFA
 

Campani

Member
This is exactly what gove has been talking about. Payments for public goods. Therefore no payment, no public goods!! And tell them to fudge off. Also considering you and your neighbours are the only people possible of supplying these goods you can probably name a very high price. On going dredging and town centre flood walls are very expensive.
 
Location
East Mids
Brentingbydam.jpg
We are owner occupiers but this in effect happened to us 18 years ago, we are upstream from local town. New sluice gates and dam built on our land to hold water back up to 5m deep to stop town from flooding (not a permanent reservoir). Several other tenant farmers upstream from us also affected by the increased flooding. EA should pay agents fees and give compensation but there is little point in trying to stop them (they have compulsory purchase powers). Talk to TFA/NFU.
 

upnortheast

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Northumberland
I farm arable land next to the river Tyne in Northumberland. The EA have decided they want to reduce the height of the flood bank surrounding my land in order to let it flood when the river rises and hold water to protect houses in the village downstream. Have any forum members anywhere else in the country had this done to them as well and what are the pros and cons and do i have any say in the matter ?
I am a tenant farmer.
Flooding caused by all this tarmac & concrete. Not a problem . we will just flood a farmers land. What a stinking attitude.
Can you not give a good home to a family of badgers just next to the flood bank. That will hold the job up for a couple of years - at least. Some rare newts are good as well
Which bit of the valley is this ?
 
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free topsoil? what not to love....... /s
clear legal advice - plans with time for damages/ and what steps might be needed - compaction due to water weight - certainly dont grow crops with traditional ploughing so your topsoil doesnt head off into town- so maybe a direct drill expense.
 

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