Environment Agency accused of failing to build flood defences during Covid
The Environment Agency planned to upgrade flood defences in one of Britain’s worst-hit towns but then failed to complete the work during the pandemic, the Daily Telegraph can reveal.
Officials promised the owners of multiple historic homes in Tewkesbury, where the Severn and other rivers have burst their banks, they would provide them with stronger barriers, floodgates and pumps in 2020 but the work was never done.
Houses in Tewkesbury are among more than 1,000 properties across England that have been flooded in January as defences proved inadequate.
Robbie Moore, the floods minister, said on Friday that planning authorities should share some of the blame, saying they could go “a lot further” in scrutinising the flood risks of homes.
The Environment Agency warned that flooding was likely to continue into mid January owing to run-off from the “saturated” landscape.
Its data showed almost every river in England to be exceptionally high, with some rivers reaching their highest flow on record, such as the River Itchen in Southampton.
Meanwhile the Trent, the scene of widespread devastation in the Midlands, reached its highest level for nearly a quarter of a century.
Although most of the rain has passed, freezing temperatures are expected, with the UK Health Security Agency issuing a yellow cold weather alert from Saturday morning, meaning there is a risk to vulnerable people such as the elderly.
It said temperatures will drop to minus 4C in parts of rural south-west England on Saturday night and minus 6C in rural areas along the Welsh border in Shropshire and north Herefordshire on Sunday night.
The warning followed a traumatic day for thousands across the country, as residents in the southern towns of Henley-on-Thames and Marlborough joined dozens across the Midlands and southwest in being evacuated.
The famous Pulteney Weir on the River Avon in Bath was also completely submerged, while Barrow upon Soar in Leicestershire, a narrow boat on the River Soar was wedged across the arches of a bridge having been swept onto its side.
Elsewhere, a man and his dog were photographed being rescued from their car near Chelmsford in Essex.
Meanwhile in neighbouring Cambridgeshire the Holiday Inn Hotel at Huntingdon Racecourse had to cancel all bookings after declaring itself “an island”.
Siobhan Connor, a public relations consultant, said her home in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, was contaminated with raw sewage after being flooded for the third time in a year and for the twentieth time since 1997. “We can’t continue like this,” she said.
In Tewkesbury, homeowners from 11 Grade II listed townhouses on Abbey Terrace complained that the pandemic had appeared to prevent work that might have prevented the flood.
Among them were Denise Clarke, 73, and her husband Jeffrey, 83, who were forced to evacuate their home of 44 years as water entered the property for the first time since 2007.
“It just came up quicker than we thought it would,” she told The Telegraph.
“The floodgates were working well but then it came up through the back and the floor.”
Mrs Clarke added: “They [Environment Agency] were supposed to get a firm to strengthen the flood barriers. They were supposed to have money set aside for it two-and-a-half years ago.”
In the same town, John Badham, the 75-year-old retired headmaster, who has mobility issues, had to flee his home along with his wife, who is recovering from a cancer operation.
“We do feel rather let down by the environment agency and the local authority,” he said.
“Seven years ago, we were told by the local council that money had been made available to produce extra defences. Unfortunately that seems to have disappeared during the Covid period and the defences never materialised.”
Laurence Robertson, the Conservative MP for Tewkesbury, said: “I don’t want to be critical about the Environment Agency but certainly in my constituency it’s just not a huge target. We’ve not got all that many we need to help, I am hoping for a better reaction in the future. Sadly in life it always takes an incident to spark people into action.”
In Nottinghamshire, a local politician described the situation as “pure hell”.
Cllr Paul Taylor said medication was being rushed to residents in cut-off villages, some of whom had been flooded for the third time in as many months.
“I think this is one of the worst situations that we have seen,” he said, adding: “People are saying enough is enough and that they want to see some action.”
The workshop of Kirk & Bills, a sixty-year-old family business specialising in home restorations on the banks of the Trent in Newark, was almost completely submerged.
‘Terrible start to new year’
Employee Ken Button said: “It’s been a terrible start to the new year. We’ll have to see what we can salvage.”
The Environment Agency said the East Midlands was “feeling the effects” of climate change.
Alex McDonald, the spokesman, said: “As a nation we need to be more resilient to flooding.”
“So we need to look at how we can work with communities to build that better, to help install property flood resilience measures to people’s homes, to make sure people are signed up to flood warnings and understand their risks and look at how we can work with local authorities around flood protection measures we can offer to communities.”
Nick Edwards, a landscape architect, advised homeowners to replace hard surfaces, such as asphalt or concrete, with porous materials such as gravel to avoid future floods.
He also said homeowners should aim to sow lawns or plants instead of paved driveways.
It followed a fraught night in Hackney Wick, east London, where firefighters were called to guide 50 people to safety after a canal burst its banks, flooding roughly 10 acres.
Meanwhile farmers complained of “huge losses” from the relentless season of storms, with the National Farmers’ Union calling for compensation for those holding flood water in their fields.
South Western Railway services were disrupted on Friday across its entire network, with major issues on its west of England routes.
Great Western Railway also warned of “significant disruption” to its services.
Responding to the complaints from Tewkesbury, an agency spokesman said: “We know the devastation that flooding can cause and our priority is to protect communities from the impact of flooding as much as possible.
“We are working with the community in Tewkesbury to help residents plan for flooding and make the local environment more resilient to flooding.
“This includes undertaking Natural Flood Management work to create more space and ease the flow of water.”
