Flood protection chief defends staff bonuses

 

The Environment Agency chairman today defended the five-figure bonuses paid to some of his senior staff, after an outcry from residents affected by the floods who complained that defences were inadequate.

Claiming that the agency had responded "wonderfully well" to the floods, Sir John Harman rejected calls for staff to rescind their advances, which included a 15 per cent bonus of £24,000 for chief executive Baroness Young on top of her £163,000 salary.

The Sunday Times yesterday disclosed that performance bonuses had been paid to senior executives at the agency shortly before the recent floods, which saw more than 10,000 people driven out of their homes, and 340,000 people left without a mains supply after a water treatment works flooded. More than a week on, 120,000 homes remain without running water.

Asked whether he thought the money should be repaid, Sir John told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "Well, no, I don’t really. I know absolutely that staff, not just my staff in the Environment Agency, at all levels have responded wonderfully well."

Sir John added that bonuses were paid for "measured" performance targets. "They were paid for delivering new defences, which they did, improving the maintenance of existing defences, which they did, extending flood warnings, which they did, and managing all that at a time when there was some reduction in funding," he said.

"I think actually, from my very close experience of how they have performed, it is really unfortunate this story is running."

However, shoppers queuing for bottled water at a Tesco supermarket in Quedgeley, near Gloucester, had called on the agency to hand the bonus money over to flood victims, claiming that defences around the area had been neglected. Around 12,000 properties in Gloucestershire have now had water supplies restored after the flooded Mythe treatment plant was reopened over the weekend, but a further 120,000 are still without any water.

Severn Trent Water said today it would take until August 5 until all customers had their supplies restored. The company added that all water is, at present, unsafe to drink even when boiled - meaning swathes of people would have to continue relying on bowsers and bottled water being handed out at locations around Gloucestershire.

John Edwards, 53, one of those queuing in Quedgeley, described the Environment Agency's pay bonuses as "disgusting". He said: "They should hand it back and use the money for flood defences or to help people who have lost everything. It’s not showing any community spirit like we’ve been trying our best to do."

Audrey Brierly, 71, who has been forced to go to the Tesco store everyday to collect water added: "They should give the bonuses back to those poor people in Tewkesbury. They blame global warming for this, but I think it’s sheer neglect."

Today, Gloucestershire's Chief Constable urged the Government to make a special exception for the county's emergency services and grant them more funding than rules currently allow.

"This is going to be recorded as the largest peacetime operation the country has seen," said Dr Tim Brain.

"We’ve played a crucial role in that operation. There are special grants available, which mean organisations like ourselves are expected to bear the first few hundred thousand pounds or possibly million in this case in costs.

"That’s a very large sum of money to be taken from our annual budget. I’m hoping for the police and other emergency services that these rules are waived because of the extraordinary nature of this emergency."

He added: "I’m hoping we will be treated as a special case for the funding for 2008/09. We have got every indication from central Government that they will give the support and help we need and I hope that continues."

Hilary Benn, the Environment Secretary, warned today that extreme weather events would become more frequent as a result of climate change.

"We are going to have to adapt to a different world. There is no doubt about that at all," he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.

"That is why we need to invest more in flood defences, which is what we are doing. That is why we need to look at how we can adapt our homes if we live in areas where there is a risk of flooding."

However, after recording the largest amount of rainfall in modern history over May, June and the first half of July, Britain was today enjoying a rare glimpse of sunshine.

Forecasters have predicted sunny spells for much of this week, with The Times's weatherman Paul Simons saying that a spell of high pressure could see conditions improve for even longer.