SIR After starvation in the Second World War, self sufficiency at nearly
any price became the priority. Soon food mountains allowed politicians to
cut expenditure on agricultural research and flood defence.
At Easter 1998, 142 constituencies in England and Wales were flooded. The
Environment Agency
<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/weather/10624322/UK-floods-Lord-Smith-dec
lines-to-apologise-to-flooded-householders.html> , of which I was the first
chairman, pressed the government, supported by the National Audit Office, to
increase expenditure by £100 million a year, which it failed to do.
I retired in December 1999, and John Prescott appointed Barbara Young from
the RSPB as chief executive. It came as no surprise when, to the relief of
the Treasury, she set common sense on its head, called for pumping stations
to be blown up and cut maintenance by putting environment first and food and
villages second.
However, the long-term blame lies not with Lady Young but with 30 years of
governments believing that there are no votes to be lost in flooding the
countryside. Lord Smith seems to agree. I doubt January 2014 will change
that it will now all be the fault of climate change.
Lord De Ramsey
Huntingdon
