Environment boss hits back over UK floods

THE boss of Britain's Environment Agency has accused government ministers of "getting in the way" of work to deal with the country's floods and of turning the crisis into a political row.
Lord Smith hit back at criticism of the agency's handling of the floods and blamed the failure to sufficiently dredge rivers on government funding.


Communities Secretary Eric Pickles has blamed faulty Agency advice for the scale of damage to the Somerset Levels and declined to dismiss calls for Lord Smith, a minister under the former Labour government, to resign.



"We made a mistake, there's no doubt about that and we perhaps relied too much on the Environment Agency's advice," Mr Pickles told the BBC.

"I am really sorry that we took the advice ... we thought we were dealing with experts."
Politicians including Prime Minister David Cameron have been visiting the worst affected areas in southwest England as efforts are made to restore transport and power and get people back into their homes.

 

With more severe weather expected over the coming days, there are now 16 severe flood warnings in place - meaning a risk to life - as more areas brace for rising waters, notably the Thames Valley.
Lord Smith welcomed a STG130 million ($A239 million) government funding boost for repairs.
But he issued a furious broadside at what he said were attempts by politicians to undermine the work and reputation of the Agency in a bid to secure better media coverage.

"What really saddens me, though, is seeing the Environment Agency's work and expertise in flood-risk management, internationally respected and locally praised in many parts of the country, being used as a political football for a good media story," he wrote in the Guardian newspaper.

"In a lifetime in public life, I've never seen the same sort of storm of background briefing, personal sniping and media frenzy getting in the way of decent people doing a valiant job trying to cope with unprecedented natural forces."

He said a Treasury-imposed "benefit-to-cost" rule had limited the sum the EA had been able to devote to dredging the silted-up rivers, which failed to drain the Levels properly.
"So when politicians start saying it's Environment Agency advice or decisions that are to blame, they need to realise that it's in fact government rules - laid down by successive governments, Labour and Tory - that are at the heart of the problem," Lord Smith wrote.

Repeated calls for dredging were made to government by farmers and others in the region from at least six months ago but funding was declined.

Police are investigating whether a seven-year-old boy, Zane Gbangbola, died of carbon monoxide poisoning from a generator pumping water out of his flood-hit home in Surrey.