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The Jubilee River story - January 2003 - EA response (from Sir John Harman) to Cllr Laurence
(Letter copied from the Wraysbury Village Website)
The
Following Reply was received by Councillor Lawrence, from the Environment
Agency:
Transcript of letter from
Environment Agency to Councillor Lawrence
Ref SJH/RJB/Lawrence0103.20
Date 20 January 2003-01-22
Councillor Lawrence
Leader of the Council
Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead
Cabinet Office, Town Hall
St Ives Road
Maidenhead
SL6 1RF
Dear Councillor Lawrence
FLOODING IN THE ROYAL BOROUGH OF WINDSOR AND
MAIDENHEAD
Thank you for your letter dated the 9th January 2003. Firstly, I think it is
important to recognise that we have recently experienced some of the highest
flood levels since 1947 and indeed in some places recorded levels were the third
highest since records began. Without doubt, if the Jubilee River had not been
built, probably four times the number of properties would have been flooded. I
think it is somewhat premature to suggest an independent investigation of the
recent flooding events given that the Environment Agency has not yet had a
chance to complete gathering and to present even the first facts about what
actually happened during the recent flood event. As you are aware, an initial
presentation of these facts will be given to all interested parties at he all
day surgery to be held at the Hythe Centre, Thorpe Road, Egham next Thursday
23rd January.
Our initial response to the three issues you raise is as follows:
a) What assistance
is the Environment Agency willing and able to offer to homeowners whose
properties were affected by the flooding both in terms of immediate relief, and
to address the possible difficulties such owners will now face when attempting
to sell or insure their properties in the future?
Firstly, it is not the role of the Environment Agency to provide clean up and
other assistance
following a flood. As the Local Authority, you will recognise that you also have
a major role in this respect. For our part, however, we have already distributed
to all known affected properties a copy of our booklet “After a flood” offering
a practical advice about what to do to restore your home after flooding. We can
follow this up at our surgery with further advice regarding individual cases. We
will also continue to provide a comprehensive flood warning and flood risk
management service. However, in terms of selling and insuring properties in the
future this is a business decision for individual insurance
companies and currently the subject of discussions between government and the
insurance
industry. For our part we are providing the association of British Insurers with
information on current and planned flood defences,
to allow them to make the best assessment of risk.
b) Does the Environment Agency accept that it has inadequately modelled the
effect of the flood alleviation works to areas downstream of Windsor to such an
extent that no adequate steps were taken to protect those properties affected
form flooding, and that therefore the Environment Agency is liable for the
extent of the flooding that has occurred?
No, the Agency does not accept this. You may recall that, at the public inquiry
about whether this scheme should go ahead. Your own Council, along with the
Planning Inspector, both used independent consultants to scrutinise the
modelling work. All 3 parties, each using separate experts, were satisfied that
there would be no significant increase in flood levels downstream. We are
currently re-running an updated hydraulic model used to determine the impact of
the Jubilee
River
on downstream levels using 2003 flood data. The engineering consultants, Gibb
Ltd will run the model with and without the flood alleviation channel to
determine what difference
if any it would have made on downstream flooding. Any initial findings will be
presented at the surgery on the 23rd January and when we have final results we
will be happy to share these with your Council and more widely. I am sure that
you are conscious that as the model predicted, the operation of this flood
alleviation scheme successfully protected thousands of homes within your
Borough.
c) What action is the Environment Agency proposing to take in respect of
potential future flooding in the area?
Given the increased risk of flooding this winter due to the saturated ground
conditions, we are already urgently reviewing short-term actions should flooding
re-occur. Such measures including encouraging residents to take up the flood
warning service direct to their own telephone through our Automatics Voice
Messaging system; providing advice to those at risk as to what further practical
measures they might take to protect themselves and their property; ensuring that
our Floodline service does provide accurate and timely advice in the event of
further flooding. Once
we have evaluated the full impact of this flood, we will then move rapidly to
examine the case and options for further flood protection measures. We will also
continue to scrutinise and comment on all planning applications submitted to
your Council and will maintain our policy of objecting to all developments that
could lead to an increased risk of flooding.
I understand your Council officials as well as representatives from the
Emergency Services and Thames Water have been invited to participate in the
surgery next week. I believe their attendance
is important so that the public can understand the various responsibilities of
all our organisations to work together to warm and protect the public from
flooding and for dealing with these events. I also hope that you and your
councillors and the public will be able to attend and judge for yourselves the
facts as to why and how this flooding occurred.
Yours sincerely
Sir John Harman
Chairman