Written evidence submitted by Mrs Gillie
Bolton
The law should be changed to state:
Whichever party is responsible for the management
of any watercourse in this country must be given the DUTY to ensure
the capacity of that watercourse for flood defence purposes.
1. During the past few years there have
been too many times when thousands of people have been flooded.
This means that homes, businesses and life comes to a halt for
a very long time. The cost to the individuals as well as the country
is enormous and unless something is done to reduce the probability
of flooding the situation over the next few decades will only
get worse at great cost to both the country and taxpayer.
2. At present the Environment Agency has
a legal duty to maintain the River Thames for navigational purposes
and also the power—but not the duty—to maintain for
flood defence purposes.
3. In my opinion this must change. The law
should be changed so that, whichever organisation or individual
is responsible for the management of a watercourse, that party
must have a duty to ensure that the capacity of that watercourse
is maintained. This can only be achieved by regular river maintenance
and dredging which should be re-implemented immediately.
4. If this does not happen then this country
will come to a halt more and more, at enormous cost to all, as
more floods occur.
30 September 2010
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