Lewes Forum thread

Go on, tell 'em what you think

Lewes Forum New message

North Street and politicians...

On 30 Dec 2015 at 9:28am Clifford wrote:

An excerpt from an interesting letter about the political response to flooding:

Politicians '... must replace platitudes such as �once-in-100-years event�, designed to give an excuse for doing nothing, with a new vocabulary that accepts changed circumstances and responsibilities.
They must acknowledge the predicted changes in rainfall patterns that the Met Office and others have been warning about for well over a decade.
'They must change the planning process to make it impossible to build houses on flood plains.'

On 30 Dec 2015 at 9:55am Thro wrote:

Or just say no to immigrants then we wouldn't have to panic build . Whilst on the subject I haven't seen one post on here with any reference to the people up north who are losing homes because of the floods

On 30 Dec 2015 at 10:14am Clifford wrote:

And another interesting comment:
'I agree with John Gummer that the government should use the Housing Act to prevent further developments in at-risk areas. Even as we watch unprecedented flooding taking place in northern counties, planning authorities here in the south are contemplating building on floodplains and their environs. Whatever the pressures for new housing land in the overcrowded south, the move is short-sighted and should be resisted.'

On 30 Dec 2015 at 12:15pm JM3 wrote:

One of the things the Santon plan offers Lewes which the Phoenix Rising plans failed to offer is flood defences.

On 30 Dec 2015 at 12:21pm Clifford wrote:

JM3, I think you may be missing the point.

On 30 Dec 2015 at 12:59pm JM3 wrote:

Please enlighten me.

On 30 Dec 2015 at 1:39pm Clifford wrote:

The point is not whether Santon proposed flood defences or Phoeinix Rising didn't, but whether it is wise to build housing on a flood plain when recent evidence from the North is that even up to date flood defences can be shown to be useless. Still, by the time the problem comes Santon will have pocketed their profits and the councillors will have moved on.

On 30 Dec 2015 at 2:37pm lewes wrote:

Clifford: you are missing the point. We have already built on the north street. Santon are going to be building 1 storey higher than the existing buildings and adding flood defences. You are clutching at straws.. The development is happening even if you don't like it. Let it go!!

On 30 Dec 2015 at 3:24pm belladonna wrote:

It may already be built on, but it's not 450 houses. And it flooded in 2000. They are not adding flood defences, they are adding flood 'resilience', with what look likes drainage ditches down the middle of the street and a big levee by the pells. As we have seen, simple walls and higher flood gates do not keep massive amounts of water from overtopping, We need to look at long term solutions and reassess land use and farming, in particular in relation to tree planting and field runoff.

On 30 Dec 2015 at 4:21pm lewes wrote:

Belladonna: back in 2000 they had much less in the way of flood defences. There has been substantial works to the ouse valley and defences added to the town since.
This means that a repeat of the floods of 2000 are much less likely. If the 415 houses were already in north street back in 2000 none would have flooded due to them being built 1 storey higher than the existing level of the site. I know this as I live next to the site and we are at the same level as the 415 houses will be at and we were safe from flooding.
Yes we need to ensure that the authorities carry on with water control improvements up and down the ouse valley but these houses will be safer than than many that were affected in 2000 due to increase in height of the development.
Don't forget that lewes is different from the northern areas flooded in December as we have a tidal River therefore approach is quite different.