Barnham residents' fears as flood defence work cut back

Flooding fears have been re-awakened for a group of anxious Barnham residents.

The reassurance from the threat to their homes they have enjoyed for almost the past decade has ended.

The Environment Agency has scrapped its policy of cutting back the Barnham Rife twice a year.

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The agency has instead just carried out a half cut, along one side of the rife, in the past year. It says that will be the future pattern of work.

Its officials have sought to re-assure the nearby homeowners that the agency will keep watch on the rife in between cuts.

But Church Lane resident for the past 13 years Don James said: 'The policy the EA had put in place since 1998 had kept us safe. Just as importantly, it had given us a peace of mind, which is a very important thing.

'Now, the agency has scrapped the policy, which it introduced, without any warning and without any explanation. That goes against their intention to co-operate with people.

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'It's no good keeping an eye on the rife and then carrying out work.

'It takes days and days to cut back the weeds and reefs in the rife. It can't be done in a matter of hours and no one can predict exactly how much rain will fall anyway. By the time the work is done it will be too late.'

Mr James said the rife, which his garden backs on to, was blocked solid last autumn from halfway along Church Lane to Barnham railway station before the EA performed its solitary cut last November.

But it is not just natural growth that can stop the rife flowing. The waterway is crossed by many small bridges and has several culverts.

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All of them can be used to deposit refuse and rubbish in the rife to cause further problems. He warned that any flooding would affect a far wider area than low lying Church Lane.

The water was likely to back up through the north of the village to revive bitter memories of the extensive flooding of late 1993. Other instances occurred in the following years.

This led the Church Lane residents, backed by the then village residents' association and the MP at the time, to put pressure on the EA to do more work on Barnham Rife.

The agency previously only cut back the rife once every five to ten years.

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The villagers claimed this left it clogged up with excessive growth. This made it impossible for the water, and the raw sewage which can be pumped into it in extreme rainfall, to flow south to the sea.

The campaign paid off in April 1998. The agency told the residents it accepted twice yearly cuts were necessary. It agreed to cuts in June/July and at the end of the growing season in September and October.

The previous group of campaigners have joined together again to get the EA to reverse its latest policy.

They are also being backed by current MP Nick Herbert and their parish and district councillors.

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Alan Hopkins, the EA's operations delivery manager, said the frequency of the works had changed to take account of laws to protect nesting birds.

The work carried out was based on environmental impacts and degree of flood risk.

Resources were committed initially to the River Lavant at Chichester, then the Bremere Rife into Pagham Harbour and move on to the Barnham Rife.

The maintenance work included '˜conservation cuts' which also took account of an area's flood risk.

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He said: 'As with all of the rivers and watercourses we maintain, we monitor these throughout the year and, if required, will carry out further works at other times.

'At present on the rife system, however, no further maintenance is required.'

The agency maintained the rife under its general supervisory and operational powers because it had no responsibility to do so, he added.