John Penrose

Conservative Party | Weston-super-Mare

Government playing 'Russian Roulette' with local lives and livelihoods over Congresbury Yeo Flood defences warns Weston-super-Mare MP

Weston-super-Mare MP John Penrose today called on the Government to give local flood defences top priority after a leaked document showed that the Environment Agency's own internal analysis says the Congresbury Yeo flood defences will be obsolete by 2009.

The MP's comments come on the day of the Spring High Tides - some of the biggest of the year - which will put the flood defences at the Congresbury Yeo on the North Somerset coast under maximum pressure today. Fortunately, because the weather is good and there is no storm surge expected, there are no flood warnings in place this time. 

The leaked document obtained by Mr Penrose gives the Congresbury Yeo sea defences 5 years of remaining life, starting in 2004, and says they should currently be undergoing proactive maintenance. As the Weston-super-Mare MP exposed last November however, the maintenance work hasn't been done after the capital scheme proposed for 2008/9 was suspended by the Government.

The Environment Agency is currently investigating a £6.2 million scheme for the Congresbury Yeo tidal banks with appraisal work due to start in September 2008. Funding for the scheme has not yet been agreed. The earliest the work might begin is late 2009 or 2010 and won’t be completed till 2013.

If the sea defences fail, hundreds of homes and local businesses are at risk. Communities which are potentially affected include Kewstoke, Sand Bay, Wick St Lawrence, St Georges, parts of Worle as well as villages from the north bank of the river all the way up to Clevedon.
 
Mr Penrose said: “The Government is drinking in the last chance saloon. They've skimped on maintenance and the funding for the new scheme still isn’t finalised. Even if they approve it immediately the new defences will be 4 years late before they’re finished. They’re playing Russian Roulette with local residents' lives and livelihoods. It's essential these works are approved without delay, and that there aren't any more u-turns like the one last year which scrapped the plans to rebuild the flood defences and landed us in the mess we're seeing today.

“Today marks the spring high tides. This time we've been lucky because there aren't any storms to overwhelm the flood defences. But the Government is riding its luck by delaying the works that are needed.

"I will be writing to the Secretary of State for Environment, Hilary Benn, demanding to know why the Environment Agency have not been given the funding needed to move this programme forward and why he has decided to leave the area to its fate. I will also invite him to come to the area to see the crumbling defences for himself. They’re not adequate and they need investment.”