20140127_R4

Source: BBC Radio 4: Today Programme

URL: N/A

Date: 27/01/2014

Event: Ian Liddle-Grainger on the Environment Agency: "this is an out-of-control quango"

Credit: BBC Radio 4

People:

• Evan Davis: Presenter, BBC Radio 4 Today programme
• Ian Liddle-Grainger, MP: Conservative MP for Bridgwater

Evan Davis: I want to pick up that point about dredging - I'm going to talk to the local MP, Ian Liddle-Grainger, Conservative MP for Bridgwater and West Somerset, about that. Good morning to you.

Ian Liddle-Grainger: Good morning, nice to speak to you.

Evan Davis: Well, look, just tell us about this argument over dredging, because a lot of people are saying the Environment Agency has not been dredging the rivers over the Levels there, and that is the cause of this. Is that your view?

Ian Liddle-Grainger: Oh yes. They haven't dredged this river since 1995. They made a very conscious decision to become an environmental agency, not a water agency. And it's just shown that this river's now 40% below capacity. We need to get the Secretary of State and the British government to actually dredge the river, give the power back to the internal drainage boards, which are our local drainage areas, and also the district council at Sedgemoor and outside Somerset, so they can actually get on with the job. Once it's dredged, we can then maintain it. But the Environment Agency has to stop this mucking around, and get on with it.

Evan Davis: And now the Environment Agency, as I understand it, says: even with dredging, the land is below sea level, the tide comes in twice a day, the rivers system would not have coped with the extreme weather events. They're blaming it on the rain rather than on the dredging.

Ian Liddle-Grainger: I mean, that is pathetic. It is [an] absolutely ridiculous excuse. This never flooded to this level ever, in living memory. And we've got people who've been here for a long time. And if you look back into the mists of time, you don't have this. But what galls my constituents, and people like James, is: they found £31 million to build a bird sanctuary at the mouth of the Parrett river, yet they cannot and will not find £5 million to dredge this river. Every excuse you can think of - this is an out-of-control quango.

Evan Davis: Is it a long-term solution, dredging? I mean, do you basically just have to keep dredging and dredging, at some expense, time after time, in order to stop this river silting up, and to stop the flooding?

Ian Liddle-Grainger: Oh yes, absolutely correct. But you see, the point about this is: pre-'95, we never had this problem. Why? Every year, they took a bit out and put it on the top of the banks, and that's how they did it. The precept for the local community, and through the districts, and through the drainage boards, was enough to make sure that it was dredged properly. If we go back to that situation, without an interference from a quango, we will do that again - we we've assured the Secretary of State, and I will assure any listener in this country, that that is what we can and will do, provided we can get this river dredged. We will look after ourselves - that's what we've heard from James and you've heard from many other people down here. We don't cry wolf, we're used to water, we've been here since the Roman times doing it, we're pretty good at it. But if you give us a chance, we can carry it out.

Evan Davis: Ian Liddle-Grainger, thanks for talking to us. And we did ask the Environment Agency if they'd like to come on and talk about that, but they chose not to.