2005 before flood protection begins

PETER Midgley from the Environment Agency, outlined a fair wind timetable for the flood defences, which started with the appraisal in March this year.

The planned progression would mean that the preferred option, or combination of options, would be chosen by the New Year.

A strategy submission by Sussex Flood Defence Committee (SFDC) and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) is timetabled for Spring 2002.

Detailed design and land ownership agreements would follow in 2003. Planning permissions would be sorted by early 2004.

DEFRA and SFDC approval would be received by mid 2004.

Contracts would be signed late in 2004 and construction started in early 2005.

This fair wind projection could be blown off course by any planning inquiry which would hold up government approval.

Holistic solution

Rupert Clubb, Environment Agency flood defence manager, stressed that defences demanded a holistic solution.

A piecemeal approach would not only be detrimental, putting different areas under threat along the length of the Ouse, it would also close the door to maximum funding.

This was reiterated by chairman of the Sussex Flood Defence Committee Peter Doran explaining that 75 per cent of costs would be met by DEFRA and 25 per cent from local resources.

We are competing with all the other flooded areas in the country, and we won t get the same amount of grant if we tackle it in little bits, he said.

Public inquiry

We need to jack up our score and get ahead in the queue.

A public inquiry would be costly and delay the flood defence plans.

Cllr Bob Tidy, lead cabinet member for legal and community services, defended the county council s record in meeting the costs of the flood damage.

Answering a question from Peter Atkins, of Lewes Flood Action, he said the county council had increased its contribution to the Environment Agency by more than 10 per cent to 3.6m.

This was the largest increase for any of the council s services, and had to be balanced against other priorities and commitments to education and the elderly.

Lewes MP Norman Baker said that the archaic system of too many organisations involved in flood defences hampered solutions.

Too many bodies have powers and too few have responsibilities , he said.