Having watched a couple of TV programmes recently about wild weather of 2012, it has been very irritating to watch Environment Agency officials arguing that it would perhaps be wise to return to the routines of the past when ditches and drains were automatically inspected regularly and kept clear.
It was irritating to learn that some places were beyond being protected by flood defences because of cost and that sometimes "Mother Nature was unbeatable". There was even a hint that we "should not be building on flood plains"!
It has been rumoured that the new town of Cranbrook was recently flooded, including a new school and a show house – if so, what an 'advertisement'. There have not been to my knowledge, any comments on this in local news or newspapers – has the government banned any reporting of flooding in Cranbrook? If so, what hypocrisy.
For the 20,000 of us who submitted valid planning objections to the new town on flooding grounds we feel thoroughly vindicated but angry that it is our taxes being spent clearing up when, according to the Government's own Environment Agency officials "the cost of flood defences is prohibitive".
Why, oh why do the Government and planners persist in knowingly and deliberately keep on building up those problems which cause misery to many and cost an awful lot of money unnecessarily?
Also, I and probably many others deeply resent the fact that 'we' pay the salaries of experts for their expertise which is then ignored or over-ruled by the Government and/ or local councils.
If the rumours about Cranbrook are true, and I suspect they are, it is particularly galling for us taxpayers and council tax payers when the 'settlement' was imposed on the area despite massive valid opposition and against he advice of EDDC by the then government.
No doubt we shall all be reassured that 2012 was a 'one-off' and only happens once in a 100 years etc etc. But .....we were also informed in the TV programme that meteorologists simply do not know what has caused the excessive rain (other than the fact that the jet stream was in the wrong place) and they admit that it could be, if not global warming, then global climate change and no one can predict what the future holds.
This fact was already known when the Blair government imposed this new town. The politicians who over-ruled all this information should be compensating for all the environmental damage caused and for those who have been flooded if they are living in homes flooded built on flood plains.
Why should taxpayers keep on paying for these continual mistakes and/or "experiments" and why should the rest of us subsidise through our insurance those who are flooded through no fault of their own? What happened to common sense?