Flooding in Wales

I’m not surprised, ground soaking wet after snow and heavy rain followed.

Next stop for floods will probably be Tewkesbury.

Build on flood plains, no dredging, no ditch clearing and failure to clean drains etc.

Floods will continue unfortunately.
 
:cry:

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That's dreadful and very sad for all concerned! 😢

Given the amount of rain we've had here in the greater Bristol area during the last 40-odd hours (100mm + I believe) I'd be very surprised if there aren't a lot more floods hereabouts as the water comes off the hills. :unsure:
 
olley said:
Can't clear waterways as that farmer found out.
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Oh yes you can but you cannot change the nature of a River.

“You, Mr Price, turned a beautiful stretch of important river into canalised section devoid of interest, thereby robbing it of important diversity of plants and animals.

“It was vandalism of the environment on a grand scale.

“We do not accept there was any justification of your actions.

“You failed to seek expert advice despite having means to do so and in our judgement acted in a selfish and ignorant manner
 
Silver-Fox said:
I’m not surprised, ground soaking wet after snow and heavy rain followed.

Next stop for floods will probably be Tewkesbury.

Build on flood plains, no dredging, no ditch clearing and failure to clean drains etc.

Floods will continue unfortunately.
Click to expand...
This is a good point, we live in Shrewsbury well known for flooding. When the river is in flood you see a lot of debris being carried down. When was the last time I saw anyone clearing out the river?

When I was child I could see across the river by the English Bridge, I can't now because of the trees that have grown on the island of silt that has been allowed to collect. If we dont dredge our rivers and clear out our drains then its only going to get worse. Mean while our councils are spending our money doing speculative property development.
 
Coolcats said:
Oh yes you can but you cannot change the nature of a River.

“You, Mr Price, turned a beautiful stretch of important river into canalised section devoid of interest, thereby robbing it of important diversity of plants and animals.

“It was vandalism of the environment on a grand scale.

“We do not accept there was any justification of your actions.

“You failed to seek expert advice despite having means to do so and in our judgement acted in a selfish and ignorant manner
Click to expand...
While continuing to build on flood plains keeping rivers/streams clear is more important than ever but doesn't seem that gets done.
With labours build build build mantra I expect more houses will be built in unsuitable places.
It would be nice to find a balance with nature, but our greed prevents that.

After a river has flooded, how much bio-diversity is even is left? And nature recovers very quickly, within a year I doubt what Mr Price did will be obvious.

If the only way is as Mr Price did, I think a lot of flood victims would support him.

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It's raining again in pontypridd, its been dry and blue skies until now , it must be concerning for those who the water has receeded
 
olley said:
While continuing to build on flood plains keeping rivers/streams clear is more important than ever but doesn't seem that gets done.
With labours build build build mantra I expect more houses will be built in unsuitable places.
It would be nice to find a balance with nature, but our greed prevents that.

After a river has flooded, how much bio-diversity is even is left? And nature recovers very quickly, within a year I doubt what Mr Price did will be obvious.

If the only way is as Mr Price did, I think a lot of flood victims would support him.
Click to expand...
I think you have a good point, I bet if he tried to go through proper channels then the NRA would require all kinds of surveys, risk assesments etc, work carried out by accredited contractors, making it un-workable.

I too think we have to take a more balanced view between environmental concerns and the risk flooding house and businesses.

There's a similar issue with hedges, where it is now illegal to cut them for most of the growing season to protect bird and insect life. The reality is that they are now allowed to grow, blocking pavements so pedestrians are forced onto the road and obscuring road signs.
 
jongood said:
There's a similar issue with hedges, where it is now illegal to cut them for most of the growing season to protect bird and insect life. The reality is that they are now allowed to grow, blocking pavements so pedestrians are forced onto the road and obscuring road signs.
Click to expand...
The lack of keeping signs clear and clean is an increasing problem, but hedges are precious and even though protected are often damaged or destroyed.
Hundreds of meters of ancient hedge, which had recently been carefully cut and laid and was beautiful, was recently torn out along the boundary of a soon to be built housing development in the town where I live. The entire hedge was destroyed in less than a day, despite the fact that it doesn't encroach on the building land, or obscure the entrance onto said land. At most, the developers will get a fine, and they have said they will replace it with 'ornamental bushes' at the completion of the build. My question is why replace a long established, beautiful, well maintained with artisan skills hedge with 'ornamental shrubs'?
Similarly, land which was given to the local council for the use of local people as a 'green space' is now earmarked for building, destroying habitat currently used by deer, badgers, foxes, owls, raptors and many species of birds, insects and wildflowers. It was said that the 'lower section will be left as a wildlife area' as though that's a wonderful concession, when in fact anyone local knows that the lower section floods and is regularly a bog in autumn, winter and early spring, and the only reason that it's being supposedly left as a wildlife refuge is because the cost to build there would be too high.
Building in a nearby town, on the flood plain, was done with promises about pumps maintaining the water levels to below that of the houses. Firstly, that's dependent on the amount of water and the pumps functioning properly, secondly houses built decades ago in the town are now being affected by flooding because the water has to be displaced somewhere...
 
olley said:
While continuing to build on flood plains keeping rivers/streams clear is more important than ever but doesn't seem that gets done.
With labours build build build mantra I expect more houses will be built in unsuitable places.
It would be nice to find a balance with nature, but our greed prevents that.

After a river has flooded, how much bio-diversity is even is left? And nature recovers very quickly, within a year I doubt what Mr Price did will be obvious.

If the only way is as Mr Price did, I think a lot of flood victims would support him.
Click to expand...
House building is across all political parties as it is said its a national importance, Builders own a lot of land but hold on to them in land banks so they can make as much as possible.

Totally agree building on near or by flood plains is irresponsible in the same way not building infrastructure at the same time, so 15,000 houses have been built near where I live that was during build build build Tory time, same would be happening if they were still in power or greens or Liberals.

Mr Price vandalised a river and its environment the courts have ruled this, if he truly wanted to help mitigating flooding then he should have worked with the water authorities and enviroment agency who would work with him. just digging or widening a small part of a watercourse will not stop flooding a wider systemic action needs to be taken. its too simplistic of him to think this would stop flooding.
 
jongood said:
I think you have a good point, I bet if he tried to go through proper channels then the NRA would require all kinds of surveys, risk assesments etc, work carried out by accredited contractors, making it un-workable.

I too think we have to take a more balanced view between environmental concerns and the risk flooding house and businesses.

There's a similar issue with hedges, where it is now illegal to cut them for most of the growing season to protect bird and insect life. The reality is that they are now allowed to grow, blocking pavements so pedestrians are forced onto the road and obscuring road signs.
Click to expand...
Hedges are normally not cut during nesting season not at other times of the year (then there is the issue of council cuts and no budget to cut them)

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jongood said:
I think you have a good point, I bet if he tried to go through proper channels then the NRA would require all kinds of surveys, risk assesments etc, work carried out by accredited contractors, making it un-workable.

I too think we have to take a more balanced view between environmental concerns and the risk flooding house and businesses.

There's a similar issue with hedges, where it is now illegal to cut them for most of the growing season to protect bird and insect life. The reality is that they are now allowed to grow, blocking pavements so pedestrians are forced onto the road and obscuring road signs.
Click to expand...
If I remember correctly, Mr Price did all the appropriate surveys, contacted the various agencies, etc. who were totally against his suggested flood mitigation measures - so he took it into his own hands. Whether what he did was right is a moot point, but as someone above said, nature returns to what it was before very quickly; just think how quickly an abandoned house and garden deteriorates.
 
Coolcats said:
House building is across all political parties as it is said its a national importance, Builders own a lot of land but hold on to them in land banks so they can make as much as possible.

Totally agree building on near or by flood plains is irresponsible in the same way not building infrastructure at the same time, so 15,000 houses have been built near where I live that was during build build build Tory time, same would be happening if they were still in power or greens or Liberals.

Mr Price vandalised a river and its environment the courts have ruled this, if he truly wanted to help mitigating flooding then he should have worked with the water authorities and enviroment agency who would work with him. just digging or widening a small part of a watercourse will not stop flooding a wider systemic action needs to be taken. its too simplistic of him to think this would stop flooding.
Click to expand...
So what's your answer to the present issue of flooding?
Build flood defenses at great expense, rebuild existing to higher levels, where does it stop.
We are apparently going to get wetter as a country so we need to do something.
Clearing out and widening existing streams and rivers would make a big difference I think, although admittedly also not cheap it could be started on straight away, if we just ignored bio-diversity.
 
olley said:
While continuing to build on flood plains keeping rivers/streams clear is more important than ever but doesn't seem that gets done.
With labours build build build mantra I expect more houses will be built in unsuitable places.
It would be nice to find a balance with nature, but our greed prevents that.

After a river has flooded, how much bio-diversity is even is left? And nature recovers very quickly, within a year I doubt what Mr Price did will be obvious.

If the only way is as Mr Price did, I think a lot of flood victims would support him.
Click to expand...
By canalising the river through his land, he speeds up the flow, and reduces the likelihood of his land flooding, but creates a higher risk of flooding down river.

Dredging just causes more water to travel downstream more quickly and add to the flood risk.

It needs to be slowed down and held upstream of places like Pontypridd where there is limited space to safely accept a flood.
 
olley said:
So what's your answer to the present issue of flooding?
Build flood defenses at great expense, rebuild existing to higher levels, where does it stop.
We are apparently going to get wetter as a country so we need to do something.
Clearing out and widening existing streams and rivers would make a big difference I think, although admittedly also not cheap it could be started on straight away, if we just ignored bio-diversity.
Click to expand...
Oh err, these things have to be planned and engineered, near me is a canalised river, it does not stop flooding, flooding along this water course happens which protects the town and if you were to buy a property nearby buy one on the north side not the south side as the canal/river floods on the south side (local knowledge). The town has a couple of places that floods occasionally, there are flood plains just outside of town and there is a key weir and flood mitigation about two miles out of town. The whole length of the river has deliberate places allowed to flood but these have been engineered in and designed. For sure ditches and water courses do need maintenance when they have silted up but flood management and prevention is complex.
 
Coolcats said:
Hedges are normally not cut during nesting season not at other times of the year (then there is the issue of council cuts and no budget to cut them)
Click to expand...
New regs for 2024

On the 1st March 2024 the UK Government announced new hedgerow rules which mean that farmers cannot cut hedges between 1st of March and 31st of August, and also must leave a 2m buffer around hedges.8 Mar 2024
 
Tonks said:
The lack of keeping signs clear and clean is an increasing problem, but hedges are precious and even though protected are often damaged or destroyed.
Hundreds of meters of ancient hedge, which had recently been carefully cut and laid and was beautiful, was recently torn out along the boundary of a soon to be built housing development in the town where I live. The entire hedge was destroyed in less than a day, despite the fact that it doesn't encroach on the building land, or obscure the entrance onto said land. At most, the developers will get a fine, and they have said they will replace it with 'ornamental bushes' at the completion of the build. My question is why replace a long established, beautiful, well maintained with artisan skills hedge with 'ornamental shrubs'?
Similarly, land which was given to the local council for the use of local people as a 'green space' is now earmarked for building, destroying habitat currently used by deer, badgers, foxes, owls, raptors and many species of birds, insects and wildflowers. It was said that the 'lower section will be left as a wildlife area' as though that's a wonderful concession, when in fact anyone local knows that the lower section floods and is regularly a bog in autumn, winter and early spring, and the only reason that it's being supposedly left as a wildlife refuge is because the cost to build there would be too high.
Building in a nearby town, on the flood plain, was done with promises about pumps maintaining the water levels to below that of the houses. Firstly, that's dependent on the amount of water and the pumps functioning properly, secondly houses built decades ago in the town are now being affected by flooding because the water has to be displaced somewhere...
Click to expand...
I take your point but I just want to be able to maintain hedges, not destroy them. Somewhat ironically letting some hedges grow to much can destroy their structure as a hedge.
 
I've just drove past pontypridd and the flood plains are full but not overflowing they appear to have loads of capacity the problem is where the river is forced in the man-made direction decided in victorian times.

Weather is dry with bueatiful rainbows then heavey rain

Unsaleable and uninsurable homes the home owners are trapped
 
Coolcats said:
Oh err, these things have to be planned and engineered, near me is a canalised river, it does not stop flooding, flooding along this water course happens which protects the town and if you were to buy a property nearby buy one on the north side not the south side as the canal/river floods on the south side (local knowledge). The town has a couple of places that floods occasionally, there are flood plains just outside of town and there is a key weir and flood mitigation about two miles out of town. The whole length of the river has deliberate places allowed to flood but these have been engineered in and designed. For sure ditches and water courses do need maintenance when they have silted up but flood management and prevention is complex.
Click to expand...
Doesn't read as though he was trying to stop flooding.
 
Logic would suggest to me that you Dredge through built up areas and just after, then put in the means to store and slow down water in between. I recall this was done somewhere recently but I can't remember the details.
But a flood barely raised the river level through the town below the changes.

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