- Location
- Cumbria
The Farmer Network recently arranged a meeting at the Shepherds Inn, Carlisle to update / discuss what the EA and other respective stakeholders had done over that period.
This was the first of this type of meeting I have attended, however I have kept roughly up to date reading the various reports after the floods.
The meeting was (in my view) a disaster. I do not blame the Farmer Network for this, at least they had the courage to put it on, and I congratulate the others for attending, including the local MP, the EA and CCC, however the outcome was, well Nowt ! Nothing ! Zero, Zilch, Nada.............
We (the taxpayer) have already spent over £100m in Cumbria repairing the damage, with another £72.0m in the pipeline for upgrading and work for so-called future proofing. However, the futility of this, pales into insignificance based on Cumbria County Council abandoning the existing drainage infrastructure, save "increasing the amount of gully cleaning" for no apparent reason. They have no plans to increase the budgets for major clearing of drains, culverts, ditches, run-off's, or, is there any initiative to involve local groups at Parish level to engage local stake-holders and land owners to commence the work required to repair decades of neglect.
In the words of the MP " like it or not, this is all down to money, stick a fiver on Council tax "
Well, I say that is nonsense, despite CCC claiming poverty, they have just blown over £11 million+ of tax payers money on a dispute with a supplier, they subsequently lost !!
£5.00 on the Council tax would raise £2.75m !!! What is Cumbria to do with £2.75m in the face of Global warming !!!
So many different agenda's were at the meeting the message seemed to get lost.
That message is simple !!
1) Get working what we already have, this should include consultation and audits a parish level.
2) Clear the waterways, rivers, and sea estuary's to allow the water to flow.
3) Dredge the rivers to increase flow and back-up capacity.
In other words, get back to doing what we know works !!
Stop talking about permits for this, that and the other, get on with it !!!
Once you have reinstated what we have, then start to plant trees, and build catchment lagoons and ponds.
Currently we are going nowhere !!
I congratulate the EA for turning up, however you are clearly a log-jam......
This was the first of this type of meeting I have attended, however I have kept roughly up to date reading the various reports after the floods.
The meeting was (in my view) a disaster. I do not blame the Farmer Network for this, at least they had the courage to put it on, and I congratulate the others for attending, including the local MP, the EA and CCC, however the outcome was, well Nowt ! Nothing ! Zero, Zilch, Nada.............
We (the taxpayer) have already spent over £100m in Cumbria repairing the damage, with another £72.0m in the pipeline for upgrading and work for so-called future proofing. However, the futility of this, pales into insignificance based on Cumbria County Council abandoning the existing drainage infrastructure, save "increasing the amount of gully cleaning" for no apparent reason. They have no plans to increase the budgets for major clearing of drains, culverts, ditches, run-off's, or, is there any initiative to involve local groups at Parish level to engage local stake-holders and land owners to commence the work required to repair decades of neglect.
In the words of the MP " like it or not, this is all down to money, stick a fiver on Council tax "
Well, I say that is nonsense, despite CCC claiming poverty, they have just blown over £11 million+ of tax payers money on a dispute with a supplier, they subsequently lost !!
£5.00 on the Council tax would raise £2.75m !!! What is Cumbria to do with £2.75m in the face of Global warming !!!
So many different agenda's were at the meeting the message seemed to get lost.
That message is simple !!
1) Get working what we already have, this should include consultation and audits a parish level.
2) Clear the waterways, rivers, and sea estuary's to allow the water to flow.
3) Dredge the rivers to increase flow and back-up capacity.
In other words, get back to doing what we know works !!
Stop talking about permits for this, that and the other, get on with it !!!
Once you have reinstated what we have, then start to plant trees, and build catchment lagoons and ponds.
Currently we are going nowhere !!
I congratulate the EA for turning up, however you are clearly a log-jam......
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