Four-year wait for Morpeth flood defence

Dec 19 2008 by Dave Black, The Journal

FAMILIES in a flood-devastated town have been told that calls for the speedy completion of new flood defences must be balanced against the need to put the right long-term solution in place.

Environment Agency chairman Lord Smith said yesterday he is acutely aware of concerns in Morpeth about a potential repeat of the September 6 catastrophe when the River Wansbeck burst its banks and flooded about 1,000 homes and businesses.

But he said it was vital to ensure that the scheme to upgrade the town’s ageing flood defences – which will cost between £10m and £15m – was the right one and had the full support of local residents and community organisations.

Speaking during a visit to Morpeth, Lord Smith said the current timescale would mean construction work on the project starting in early 2011 and being completed two years later.

Wansbeck MP Denis Murphy and Morpeth councillor David Parker recently expressed hopes that the scheme would be in place by late 2011, but Lord Smith suggested that was unlikely.

The Environment Agency hopes to have a range of options available for public consultation by March, with a preferred scheme chosen by May. It is likely to involve a combination of enhanced defences in the town itself and upstream reservoirs to hold back floodwater at critical times

Lord Smith said yesterday: “We want to have an absolutely genuine consultative process in putting the best possible scheme together for the future. We want to listen to what people have to say about what the best options are.

“We have already shortened the time- scale for the scheme by quite a few months, and we could shorten it further by simply imposing a scheme on the town. We don’t want to do that.

“I realise that means the process will be a bit longer than it otherwise might be, but that is a price we have to be prepared to pay to make sure the scheme is right.

“Denis Murphy has been extremely effective in making sure we are aware of the need for judicious speed on this.”

Lord Smith – the former cabinet minister Chris Smith – said funding for the Morpeth scheme was firmly in the medium term programme. “It comes out very high on the scoring criteria, and I would be astonished if it doesn’t go ahead as currently envisaged,” he added.

Yesterday he did a walkabout along the town’s riverside and met a number of local organisations to gauge their feelings on what is needed to protect Morpeth from the risk of another flood.

Mr Murphy said: “Like everyone in Morpeth I want to see this work carried out as quickly as possible, but I hear what Lord Smith says and it is vitally important that it is the right scheme with the right protection.”