Flooding: government inquiry into a joined up approach, slowing flood water, redirecting farming subsidies, living with nature and rewilding … and planting a few trees Read more Institute of Civil Engineering report on “Slowing the Flow in Pickering” Read here
Farmers, the public, wildlife and dredging – collection of articles
One of the emerging themes of the Northern floods is how farmers and dredging debate has once again taken off. Environment Minister addresses the Oxford Farming Conference Liz Truss is choosing to protect farmers over flood victims Farmers and conservationists split over river dredging plans – Farmers Weekly
Civic Voice Design Awards 2015 winner, ‘Slowing the Flow’, saves Pickering from floods.
Amongst the recent floods, there is a story from Pickering which is giving hope to the towns and villages which were affected. Pickering has been flooded time and time again but this time remained dry due to a new, cost effective flood defence called ‘Slowing the Flow’. Following a series of devastating floods, spanning from 1999 to… Read more »
What is a one hundred year flood? BBC Radio 4 “More or less” examines the meaning
Tim Harford and the team take a look at some of the numbers in the news about flooding. What is a one hundred year flood? And is there really a north-south divide in the amount of money spent on flood defences in England? (3.10 onwards) Listen here to programme on 10th January 2016
Robert Jenrick’s speech in the Parliamentary debate on flooding on 6th January 2016
Robert Jenrick (Newark) (Con): I am fortunate that my Newark constituency has not been seriously flooded in this winter’s flooding, but it has been among the worst-flooded of any constituency in the country over the past few years. Forty towns and villages in my constituency have been flooded in the past three years alone, including… Read more »
Debate in Parliament on Flooding – 6th January 2016
The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs made a statement on Tuesday 5 January on flooding and was questioned by MPs about it. You can watch the statement and questions here: http://goo.gl/qGRZX6 You can read the statement and questions here: http://goo.gl/D5HE7g On Thursday 6 January, the House of Commons debated flooding. You… Read more »
Pickering’s natural flood management scheme works
How a town in Yorkshire worked with nature to stay dry One notorious Yorkshire flood blackspot was celebrating staying dry – despite having been refused a multimillion pound defence scheme. They built 167 leaky dams of logs and branches – which let normal flows through but restrict and slow down high ones – in the… Read more »
Experts criticise George Osborne over flood protection funding
Tories promised £400m a year investment on flood defences but data shows spending was cut sharply at start of last parliament George Osborne has been accused of jeopardising Britain’s crumbling flood defences over the past five years by prioritising cuts to the deficit, and has also been warned that infrastructure spending may need to rise… Read more »
10 measures that must be taken to prevent more flooding in the future
1. Introduce better flood warning systems 2. Modify homes and businesses to help them withstand floods 3. Construct buildings above flood levels 4. Tackle climate change 5. Increase spending on flood defences 6. Protect wetlands and introduce plant trees strategically 7. Restore rivers to their natural courses 8. Introduce water storage areas 9. Improve soil… Read more »
Labour calls for long-term flood protection plan devoid of politics
John McDonnell has challenged the government to agree to a bipartisan long-term plan on flood protection, as Conservatives struggled to respond to accusations that they slashed the budget for defences in the last parliament. Read more