Flood Plain Speaking

160,000 acres inhabited since Paleloithic times. 32 SSSI's of National & International importance. The area is known to be prone to both tidal and land based flooding. 70% of farming is grassland for cattle & 30% is arable. The main historical "crops" are peat, willow & teazels.

I've been to the Somerset Levels to see the interesting Wetlands Visitors Centre, which gives a vivid picture of prehistoric settlement & land use as well as bio diversity. Anyone, who looks at the map & relates that to the actual landscape, can see that it is not an obvious place for permanent settlement & farming. However that is what we now have, however unsustainable that is. It seems to me that it is another example of humans trying to control nature & not liking the result when that fails.

I have lived for a year in a house that was rendered virtually uninhabitable by a water escape, so I know what it feels like. I am truly sympathetic to the people who live in flooded areas. But surely we have to look at the bigger picture & plan accordingly. Man needs to respond appropriately to the vagaries of nature & only fight battles we can win and afford to pay for.

At the moment this issue is a political football dominated by emotion. We are playing the "blame game" with a vengance - heads must roll - preferably those of the Environment Agency. What use is that? We are where we are. There are probably reasons for things which haven't been done, mostly to do with cost. Unless we are all prepared to pay more taxes or see something else cut this will always be the case. Spending is finite & difficult decisions have to be made.

Our political system means that politicians are always looking to be re-elected so they don't make the difficult & unpopular long term decisions which are in the best interests of society as a whole. We tie their hands because we are cheapskates who want to pay less & get more. Everyone needs to become better informed & take part in a genuine discussion about the long term issues which face our complex & expensive society.

In this instance we can't have it all. Whether climate change is brought about by human activity or not, it is here. We have watched it happening around the world. We need to wake up & think about the future of our world & the people who follow long after we are dead.