The government pays grouse moor owners to drain their glorified outdoor chicken runs. Meanwhile it’s the proles downstream who net a soakingThese floods were not just predictable; they were predicted. There were clear and specific warnings that the management of land upstream of the towns now featuring in the news would lead to catastrophe. On 9 December one of my readers told me this. “I live in the middle of Foss drainage board land above York,where flooding would not harm a single property but water is sent down as fast as possible to York. A few days later another reader wrote to me, warning that “upstream flood banks now protect crops, and not the city of York”. On 26 December the Foss exploded into York.
It is a complaint I’ve heard repeatedly: internal drainage boards – which are public bodies but tend to be mostly controlled by landowners – often prioritise the protection of farmland above the safety of towns and cities downstream. By straightening,embanking and dredging rivers where they cut through fields, the boards accelerate the flow of water, and making flooding downstream more likely. When heavy rain falls,some land must flood. We maintain a choice: fields or cities. And all over Britain, we maintain chosen badly.
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Source: theguardian.com