Quote Originally Posted by Jamesey View Post
Flooding has always been an issue on the Somerset levels, but it hasn't been this bad in living memory. I have friends and family who have been directly affected, so this issue is "close to home" for me.
‘The EA hiked up the council tax by around 20 per cent in the West Country last year with little to show for it.

He added: ‘It must not be invisible any more. They need a clear leadership and to understand that people matter. People are entitled to feel safe in their homes.

The EA gets £1.2 billion a year but paid out £395 million on staff last year and just £20 million on improving maintenance of culverts and channels to ensure the free flow of water.’ It was the most expensive agency of its type in Europe, costing nearly as much as in the USA.

Mr Pickles had no truck with green activists who say people on the Somerset Levels chose to live below sea level and should move.

‘That’s bad news for most of the Netherlands isn’t it?’ he quipped, with trademark deadpan humour.



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