Save The Ribble

A blog dedicated to preserving the beauty and delicate ecosystem of the River Ribble, and opposing any 'vision' to build a barrage on our River and develop on our riverbanks, floodplains and green spaces, causing damage to wildlife and the environment and increasing the risk of flooding to our homes. Save the Ribble Campaign is not responsible for the content of external blogs or websites which link here.

Wednesday, February 09, 2011

Say No To Cuts in Flood Defences

The government's cuts programme, means that over 1000 flood defence schemes will lose their funding.

According to the Guardian:
more than 1,500 flood defence schemes were in line for capital funding between 2011 and 2015, but that number has been slashed to 356 in the new spending plans for 2011-12. There are no funding plans for 2012-15 as the funding mechanism will be overhauled next year. The changes mean more than 50,000 households will no longer benefit from a reduction in flood risk.

The decision to cut funding for flood defences is incredibly stupid. Climate change is not going to pause in deference to the 'Canute Twins' Cameron and Clegg. We've already seen the drastic effects of floods in recent years, we're reliably informed by meteorologists that the need for flood prevention is going to rise year on year, this is not just coming from the scientists, but from the insurance companies, who say that it may not be long before 1million British homes are uninsurable against flooding.

The cost of repairing the damage caused by floods would dwarf any savings that the government makes from these utterly shortsighted and irresponsible cuts.

Labels: , ,

"The care of rivers is not a question of rivers, but of the human heart" Tanako Shozo Save The Ribble Logo