Jan Higgins wrote:The Department for Environment has not come out well on this for the simple reason they did not listen to the locals who knew what needed doing after the last major flooding, while Lord Smith in the TV interviews I have seen appears uncaring and arrogant.
Jan, the new Catchment Partnership Schemes run by the Environment Agency (the River Dour Steering Group is one of the community organisations involved in the local one) have been set up to get over exactly this problem. There were 25 pilot schemes set up in 2011 and the last batch (including ours and the relevant area of Somerset) were set up only in September last year, and have not had long enough to have an impact yet. The RDSG membership includes all local organisations with an interest in the Dour and the local catchment as well as volunteers, and the Catchment Partnership membership includes all similar organisations over East Kent, including by invitation the NFU.
I'm not defending any obvious mismanagement in that area or lack of funding from high up in the EA or government, just pointing out that arrangements are being put in place for an input into river management planning for any individual or organisation with an interest to have a direct input, unfortunately too late.
And Martin is right, this has been such an extreme situation that maybe the only realistic way to have stopped it would have been to find a way to stop the rain
