Flood Politics

Flood alleviation in Tenbury seems to becoming a question of Politics. Several agenda items at this months Town Council meeting addressed this issue.

Most people agree that Tenbury would benefit from a flood alleviation scheme, but what this entails and how it will look is far from clear.

The figure of £5M is often reported as the likely cost of a scheme, although without detailed planning I'm not sure how this has been calculated.

Whether any scheme will be esthetically acceptable remains to be seen. At least one property in Upton got a surprise when they found that a five foot high wall was planned to be build feet from their front window and blocking their view of the river.

The Environment Agency, appear to be saying that given a capital cost of £5M and an economical benefit of £7.5M, (using the latest national formula) the Tenbury Scheme is viable, but with a cost benefit ratio of 1:1.5, the scheme is a long way down the waiting list where schemes with a ratio of 1:5 are only just being considered.

Several 'groups' seem to be lobbying for work to be done in Tenbury.

Their is no Labour group, except the Government who are already writing cheques that the country cannot afford.

The Liberal Democrats, accept that the £5M is a pipe dream, and suggest that any flood defenses should be considered as part of a broad review of Tenbury, with a visioning exercise about what type of Town we want for the future, and include flood alleviation as part of any regeneration scheme.

The Conservative group, suggest that with a contribution of £1M from WCC and a further £1M from AWM, the scheme cost benefit ratio will improve to the point where central funds should be available. They also suggest additional money should be raised by local fund raising, and a levy of 50p per household per week for the next ten years. Other suggestions include reducing earthmoving costs by using local farmers and/or the "Ground Work" organisation which utilises unemployed construction workers wishing to maintain their skillbase.

The Town Council group, are unable to work with any of the political groups, unless politics are put to one side, are working with MHDC and will investigate if the £5M project can be split into sub projects and implemented on a rolling basis. Whilst the benefit of the work will be limited until the whole is completed, they feel this may be more achievable.