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Barbel populations and severe flooding

We're in good hands though, here's the chief executive:

James Bevan was educated at*Sussex University. He joined the British Diplomatic Service in 1982 and served in*Kinshasa,Brussels,*Paris, and*Washington, as well as various posts in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard (2006–07) and the Chief Operating Officer of the FCO (2007–11). He became*High Commissioner*to India since 2011, preceded by*Richard Stagg.[1][2]*James Bevan was appointed*CMGin 2006 and knighted KCMG in 2012.
James Bevan undertook a new role of Chief Executive of the*Environment Agency*from the 30th November 2015.*[

And here's the chairman:

Sir Philip Graham Dilley*(born 16 February 1955)[1]*is the chairman of the*Environment Agency*in*England. Dilley is a former business adviser to*David Cameron.[2]*In his previous role as executive chairman of the engineering firm*Arup Group Limited, Dilley accompanied the Prime Minister on trade missions to India,[3]*China and Russia[4]*and was a guest at a state banquet at*Windsor Castle*when the Indian president was hosted by*the Queen.[5]Dilley was appointed as the Environment Agency's chair in September 2014,[6]succeeding*Chris Smith*in the post.

As you can see both have an exemplary record in dealing with environmental issues :rolleyes:

It's like the days of Victorian England and the East Indian company never died.
 
True enough, but seeing as they're called the Environment Agency you'd expect more of a 'both are important' sort of answer
 
Chris Jones said:
What do you expect him to say? There'd be hell on if he said the opposite.
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As he heads what's no more than a government quango I would have expected nothing less. There has, and always will be a massive conflict of interest between an agency that has both fisheries and flood defence under the same umbrella.
Flood defence issues come around like Christmas and when there has been a general cross party consensus to relax planning laws to enable more dwellings he is caught between devil and deep blue sea.
As someone who lives within spitting distance of a river, I've become more attentive to f/d and have massive sympathy for those who have had homes and businesses ruined but I'm not sure why licience funding from fisheries should contribute to misguided planning and schemes which are often detrimental to the river environment . Maybe it's not like the road tax that doesn't get spent on the roads and I'm just a cynical sod,...
Ultimately , the closer we get to concreting over the countryside, the closer we get to having to replace our rivers with American type urban storm drains.
I guess many of us live in houses that have been built on countryside at some point in time so it could be deemed hypercritical to gripe,...dunno what the answer is ,...bromide in the drinking water perhaps?;)
 
Dave Taylor said:
As he heads what's no more than a government quango I would have expected nothing less. There has, and always will be a massive conflict of interest between an agency that has both fisheries and flood defence under the same umbrella.
Flood defence issues come around like Christmas and when there has been a general cross party consensus to relax planning laws to enable more dwellings he is caught between devil and deep blue sea.
As someone who lives within spitting distance of a river, I've become more attentive to f/d and have massive sympathy for those who have had homes and businesses ruined but I'm not sure why licience funding from fisheries should contribute to misguided planning and schemes which are often detrimental to the river environment . Maybe it's not like the road tax that doesn't get spent on the roads and I'm just a cynical sod,...
Ultimately , the closer we get to concreting over the countryside, the closer we get to having to replace our rivers with American type urban storm drains.
I guess many of us live in houses that have been built on countryside at some point in time so it could be deemed hypercritical to gripe,...dunno what the answer is ,...bromide in the drinking water perhaps?;)
Click to expand...

Dave, do you know that money raised from licences goes into flood defence?
 
Damian Kimmins said:
Dave, do you know that money raised from licences goes into flood defence?
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As I said Damian, I'm a cynical so and so. I do rememember however that licience monies contributed to agricultural drainage which caused a rumpus some time ago. That grant has now been removed I believe. Although the 'divided cake' is shown on the website, with the lions share going to fisheries improvement, how does that square against flood defence dredging ? The two seem completely at odds with each other.
The EA has become a political puppet pointed in whatever direction that best suits the government of the day especially when flooding is a hot potatoe.
Would not fishery improvements take into account flood risk when undertaken and the two become intwined when reprofiling and flow improvements are made to a river perhaps? .... Ok I'm grasping at straws but the government expect an £8 potential saving on every pound spent on flood defence, what cost do we put on incurred environmental damage to fisheries through f/d i wonder.
 
Flood defence dredging? I think those in the know will realise that dredging is not the pill to cure all flood ills some of the public think it is. I think we will start to see a strategy that covers a land management never seen before and quite possibly a building regs change.
The friends I speak to here in Cumbria realise that in order to best prepare for the levels of rainfall we've had in recent weeks, we need something else - a strategy that includes working with nature.
 
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