your views on flood defence

[beachball]

We all know that in this day and age and climate and weather change flood work is vital, but do you feel the devestation of riverside trees reeds etc it really vital and what do you think of the Muppets developers that build on flood plains should this practice be outlawed , and have you spoken to government about it regards Malc.

[envagencyyorkshire]

Hi. We work closely with our colleagues in flood risk management (FRM) to minimise the impact of necessary flood defence work. Environmental impact is very much part of the planning of FRM works, particularly now that the Water Framework Directive has to be taken into consideration. Under this Directive we have to work towards ensuring that rivers have the numbers and types of animals and plants in them that we would expect, and make sure that ecological quality does not get worse.

I've just asked Rachel in our Planning Liaison team about the second part of your question. She says that we are statutory consultees in the planning process and through this advise Local Authorities and Developers of the need to comply with national planning policy in respect of development and flood risk. Following this guidance should ensure that development only occurs in flood plains where it can be demonstrated that there are no alternative locations for that particular development. However, at the end of the day we only provide advice and the decision to permit development is that of the local authorities. We also use our role to try to influence the design of development such that it is set back from the watercourse which should help in reducing loss of bankside habitat.