Eric Pickles.

[tut]

What an obnoxious twat......

Just changed his tune as even he has now realised that he is an obnoxious twat, as have most of the population.

Lord Chris Smith the compete opposite, rational, hands tied with the budget he was given, lets do what we can now and then apportion blame.

Media? Only interested in are you going to resign. Just trying to score points and outdo each other as usual. Bunch of wankers.

tut

[rossybee]

[campbell]

I think it's a serious tragedy what has been happening to the deep south these last few weeks. Perhaps brought home now that the Thames Valley is in trouble? But whatever the root causes, now is indeed not the time to wag fingers...but for anyone in a position to help to get on with that instead.

"Full enquiry" crap etc can come later. Bets on the Environment Agency budget going up leaps n bounds this year though...!

[Dark]

In a rare piece of balanced reporting yesterday the BBC explained that only 60 houses are actually flooded on the Somerset Levels.
Of course for those affected it's terrible that you house has been flooded for the last six weeks and you have my full sympathy.
However in the grand scheme of things 60 houses is nothing and shouldn't be worthy of the excessive media attention.
Now when the Thames floods today / tomorrow and destroys thousands of homes..............

[robin]

I would hope that any investment will be based on science. I am not convinced there is that much you can do to prevent flooding given the amount of water. You can perhaps control it, though. Then you would have to decide which fields to flood and do the sums on how many days' rain they can hold, and how many days it takes to pump them out.

[rossybee]

Dredging silt deposits from river beds is a contributing factor, thus allowing the freer flow into the sea.

Thames Valley is a far more affluent area (generally speaking) and will be heard easier...

[flyingscot68]

Flood prevention?
Ask the Dutch, they're the masters of it and have been doing it for centuries.
They had a big flood in the fifties, killed about 1800 people and they vowed it would never happen again. True to their word they have constructed the greatest flood defences known to man and haven't had any major problems since then.
Get rid of Pickles and bring in a Dutchman.

[tut]

Stop building houses on flood plains for a start.

They were talking to one resident that had recently bought his house, knowing that it was flooded last year. What sort of sense does that make?

tut

[woody]

I'm not sure it's even new builds though Tut. My Aunt and her family stay west of Oxford in the countryside around a mile from the Thames. It looks like they're in the red zone for flood threat but the vast majority of the houses around there are hundreds of years old. Where you cross the Thames to get to their house there's a big olde English pub and a some cottages either side.

[j2 lot]

In a rare piece of balanced reporting yesterday the BBC explained that only 60 houses are actually flooded on the Somerset Levels.
.

I would be surprised if that is the extent of it but it isnt just the flooding of houses that is the issue, it is the impact on travel infrastructure and utilities that causes disruption

[greyrigg]

I would hope that any investment will be based on science. I am not convinced there is that much you can do to prevent flooding given the amount of water. You can perhaps control it, though. Then you would have to decide which fields to flood and do the sums on how many days' rain they can hold, and how many days it takes to pump them out.

Too much politics involved.

The infrastructure has been sadly neglected for decades in the UK, just look at the roads.

The environment agency and sepa have been following their own agenda for too long and need reigned in, failed politicians are not the best people to run these sort of things.

Malcolm

[Dominic]

Stop building houses on flood plains for a start.

It does seem to require some very basic common sense. I have been yelling that point at the tv for years, whenever peoples' houses on flood plains get flooded and they seem shocked and surprized.

[Lazydonkey]

It's not that simple tho dom.

One of the guys in my London team bought a house that had been flooded once in the last 70 years. Even then it wasnt that bad so they thought "we will take a punt"

So they were flooded earlier in the year and they lost some stuff in the garage... But nothing too bad.

Then their home insurance came up for renewal and the insurance companies refused to cover him for floods as the area was still deemed at risk.

He got flooded again last week and it's now knee high in his living room. He told me he always expected a flood to be a tsunami like wave but for him it's bubbling up through the road, garden and pavements.

Easy to sit back and say "idiot for buying that house" but how many of us would pass up the house of our dreams as it was flooded once 70 years ago?

[Dominic]

It's not that simple tho dom.

I don't see why not. It's something I have taken into consideration when I have bought my homes. Perhaps I'm unusual as I come from a family who work in the construciton industry and who discuss such issues and considerations. I would not "take a punt" on something like a house, esp if it had been flooded previously. Maybe I'm sounding harsh, but I really don't think it's rocket science.

Edit to add, very sorry to hear about the guys in your London team, and must be a terrible thing to go through. I'm sure that in the future they will buy on higher ground though!

[Lazydonkey]

The take a punt was around the timescale. I think most people on the board would hear "hasn't happened in 70 years" and think "isn't going to happen in the timescale I'll have the house".

To put it in context the house I bought is 80 years old and I can't say I've given much thought to what happened to it in the first 10 years of its lifetime.

Have you given much thought to what your house will be like in 70 years? I'd guess not.

I really feel for the guy. He's lost everything and he's completely uninsured now.