The Environment Agency (EA) has spent £313,000 on a badger sett.

[RobFZS]

wasn't this on the radio a few months back,think jeremy vine spoke about it

might have been, i remember the badgers hated it though and wouldn't use it

and then the usual retards were on saying people should have their houses knocked down/ railways ripped up for the badgers to stay put and do whatever

 

[JP1]

In the interests of fairness the Times has somewhat changed the story.​

This is by the science editor, the first was by the environment editor!

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/sett-for-life-badgers-get-50k-home-hmqfxz9qn

Sett for life: badgers get £50k home
Tom Whipple, Science Editor


November 21 2016, 12:01am, The Times

Badgers in Lincolnshire are to enjoy luxury well beyond the trampoline used in John Lewis’s Christmas advertisement JOHN LEWIS/PA​

As if it were not enough that they are brazenly bouncing on trampolines in this year’s John Lewis Christmas advert, badgers are now being given luxury homes, too.

The Environment Agency has come under attack for spending almost £50,000 on a badger sett that included a larder, areas for socialising and sleeping and a latrine. It also spent more than £240,000 repairing damage done to flood defences by the animals.

The badgers had been digging into and undermining the banks of the River Steeping near Skegness. Officials hoped that the superior accommodation would tempt them away, allowing workers to shore up the banks.

The total cost of the works, including staffing, came to £313,450. Chris Pain, a local councillor, told the Grimsby Telegraph that the spending was unacceptable at a time of austerity.

“It worries me dearly that we’ve spent £313,000 on this one badger sett which is not guaranteed to solve the problem,” he said. “I’ve proposed to the environmental scrutiny committee that where animals threaten lives and livelihoods by burying into river embankments and roads, they should be culled or relocated straight away.”

He calculated that if the works, which involved placing anti-badger meshing, were repeated at other setts on the river, the total bill could exceed £4 million.

Me thinks an EA PR Fairy may have had a hand in the revision. As Rob said still £49000+ too much

 

[Paddington]

DEFRA and the EA have plenty of Establishment backers. Yesterday regular Autumnal weather got the attention of Sky News. Must have been a slow news day. Lord Deben (John Selwyn Gummer) was stumped up as an "authority" on the subject.

When asked what folks should do to take precautions in bad weather, he suggested as a start they go to the EA for advice and guidance.

He then pointed out that DEFRA's budget had been severely curtailed. Then to say flooding was partly due to "inflexible, modern farming practices". He then went on to say farmers needed incentives to store water in the uplands

Talk about the blind leading the blind, where do they get these experts from?
Well in this case the Conservative Party.

 

[Governess]

This doesn't surprise me at all. The EA and others are spending £20million on opening up The Severn, Teme and I presume other tributaries of the Severn for fish to be able to traverse. There is a weir on the Teme that they spent thousands on last year that they basically cocked up so are redoing it this year and are rerouting the river to do it, Such a waste of money when there are many more worthy causes desperate for money, What has gone wrong with this country, all forms of wildlife seem to come before anything else. Don't get me wrong I love wildlife but not to the detriment of the sick the elderly and everything else.

 

[Hfd Cattle]

Me thinks an EA PR Fairy may have had a hand in the revision. As Rob said still £49000+ too much

And now look at the floods !!!

 

[Landy Nick]

And now look at the floods !!!

Yeah and hopefully drown the blighters.

 

[renewablejohn]

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/badger-family-sett-up-for-life-in-313-000-home-vbppfpd6s

Badger family sett up for life in £313,000 home
Jonathan Leake, Environment Editor


November 20 2016, 12:01am, The Sunday Times

Rehomed badgers were given £50 worth of peanuts LAURIE CAMPBELL/GETTY IMAGES​

The Environment Agency (EA) has spent £313,000 providing a new luxury home for a badger family.

The agency created a larder, sleeping area, communal space and latrine for the animals, linked by concrete pipes and buried under landscaped earth and bushes. It wanted to tempt them to quit a sett the animals had dug into the banks of the Steeping river, near the village of Wainfleet in Lincolnshire — potentially weakening flood defences.

Residents, however, were shocked at the cost — similar to that of a five-bedroom house with a large garden in the same area. The EA even stocked the artificial sett with £50 worth of peanuts.

The costs emerged only after a freedom of information request from Chris Pain, a Lincolnshire county councillor whose ward covers Wainfleet.

“The badger population has surged. There are a dozen other setts dug into the banks of the Steeping, so if each gets the same treatment it will cost £4m.”

The cost has also caused anger because the Steeping has not been dredged for 35 years — sharply raising the risk of floods. The EA has refused requests from the Lindsey Marsh drainage board to spend £800,000 removing the silt and reeds.

Giles Crust, vice-chairman of the drainage board, said the agency seemed keener on saving badgers than protecting people from floods. “The EA refused dredging requests for years but spent money on badgers without hesitating.”

It also means that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which funds the EA, is paying for luxury homes for badgers — while also paying for them to be culled elsewhere.

Badgers are a protected species except in cull areas, but they can be euthanised, subject to licensing from Natural England. The EA has rejected this approach and last week confirmed that it rehomed about 10 badger families a year. “Rehoming badgers by building artificial setts is only done in exceptional circumstances. Works at Wainfleet to construct artificial setts, install protective meshing and strengthen the banks cost £313,000.”

There is, however, evidence that the Wainfleet badgers have also rejected the EA’s scheme by refusing to move into the new home.

Crust said the new sett had been dug below the water level — making it too damp: “They have dug a new sett half a mile away — straight into the river bank.”

I really do hope there is a full investigation into the flooding at Wainfleet reported yesterday. If they want any hints as to where to start the investigation as to why the dykes collapsed I would start at the above story and organise an immediate badger cull together with the EA being stripped of any powers in respect of the drainage of the area those powers being conferred back to the local drainage board.

 

[Hindsight]

There will in a couple of years time be a report prepared.

I can write now the synopsis to save you time reading it in 2021.

Exceptional weather events on a 1 in 500 year basis, which exceeded the 1 in 100 year events used in modelling by EA hydrologists and engineers. The issue of badgers was investigated and found not to be a contributory factor. Silting up of the drainage channel resulting from agricultural activity upstream over the previous twenty years was considered a significant contributory factor and the government was able to point to its new stewardship scheme and compulsory stopping of tillage on slopes greater than 2degrees as positive action to prevent such events happening again.

The EA was congratulated on its swift action in June 2019 which helped prevent more serious flooding. The RAF was also thanked for providing helicopters.

 

[teslacoils]

And at the same time they can't be arsed to clear their drainage ditches.

F
M
L

 

[Storeman]

This doesn't surprise me at all. The EA and others are spending £20million on opening up The Severn, Teme and I presume other tributaries of the Severn for fish to be able to traverse. There is a weir on the Teme that they spent thousands on last year that they basically cocked up so are redoing it this year and are rerouting the river to do it, Such a waste of money when there are many more worthy causes desperate for money, What has gone wrong with this country, all forms of wildlife seem to come before anything else. Don't get me wrong I love wildlife but not to the detriment of the sick the elderly and everything else.

It's all part of the United Nations Agenda 21. Wildlife and the environment first.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agenda_21

 

[Pond digger]

There will in a couple of years time be a report prepared.

I can write now the synopsis to save you time reading it in 2021.

Exceptional weather events on a 1 in 500 year basis, which exceeded the 1 in 100 year events used in modelling by EA hydrologists and engineers. The issue of badgers was investigated and found not to be a contributory factor. Silting up of the drainage channel resulting from agricultural activity upstream over the previous twenty years was considered a significant contributory factor and the government was able to point to its new stewardship scheme and compulsory stopping of tillage on slopes greater than 2degrees as positive action to prevent such events happening again.

The EA was congratulated on its swift action in June 2019 which helped prevent more serious flooding. The RAF was also thanked for providing helicopters.

 

[Princess Pooper]

I see that the number of houses ordered to evacuate at Wainfleet is now over 500. A pump has failed, so the pumping station has been switched off, the original breach is breaking down again and there is threat of further breaches along the Steeping. Worrying times.

 

[Bury the Trash]

Theres too many trying to tell farmers what to do, they want to focus on there own responsibilties. Its not like they dong get paid enough.

 

[An Gof]

There will in a couple of years time be a report prepared.

I can write now the synopsis to save you time reading it in 2021.

Exceptional weather events on a 1 in 500 year basis, which exceeded the 1 in 100 year events used in modelling by EA hydrologists and engineers. The issue of badgers was investigated and found not to be a contributory factor. Silting up of the drainage channel resulting from agricultural activity upstream over the previous twenty years was considered a significant contributory factor and the government was able to point to its new stewardship scheme and compulsory stopping of tillage on slopes greater than 2degrees as positive action to prevent such events happening again.

The EA was congratulated on its swift action in June 2019 which helped prevent more serious flooding. The RAF was also thanked for providing helicopters.

A very astute response. One meant to be tongue in cheek but regrettably so close to the mark.
It’ll be like the Somerset level flooding all over again.

 

[david]

Could they not get the Dutch over with their pumps to help Wainfleet ?

Like they did when Somerset flooded ?

 

[renewablejohn]

Could they not get the Dutch over with their pumps to help Wainfleet ?

Like they did when Somerset flooded ?

Cannot understand why they have not used wagon sheets in the river to stem the flow through the breach. Standard practice on vessels to temporary plug leaks.

 

[Mr Mackay]

Yes , but they are cute , innit?

 

[Victor]

Interviewed councillor on bbc this morning but question about dredging never asked
Very poor research and poor reporting
Got to go along with the BBC world view I suppose

 

[turbo]

The sluse gates on the river have not been maintained and would not open hence why so much water was left in the river,if you notice the drain that they are pumping into now is very low,that’s because it’s maintained by the internally drainage board not the ea!,if the gates had been opened at low tide the steeping would off been lowered and very little flooding would of occurred

 

[JJT]

Absolutely outrageous. Idiots deserve the sack for doing this. Of all the things they could spend £313K on they choose this. Country's gone to the ̶d̶o̶g̶s̶ Badgers.

Fixed that for you.