Tide of opposition turns against scheme to create river wetlands

The Environment Agency plans to create a new wetland by breaching the flood banks of the Humber near Skeffling – which locals claim are “perfectly adequate.”

The agency, which built a similar “managed realignment” scheme at Paull for around £7.5m by moving the flood defences back and flooding agricultural land, says it will improve local flood defences.

But some residents disagree and are frustrated that money isn’t being spent on local maintenance but can be found for projects which meet the demands of European Directives.

They are also unhappy that prime agricultural land will be inundated.

Chairman of Skeffling parish council Mike Turnbull said they had been discussing the scheme with officials for the last 20 years: “It is going to create a habitat for worms and birds.

“It is not about sorting the flood defences it is about creating habitat and allowing them to have extra land to develop in Hull and on the south bank. Paull Holme Strays was built (as compensation) for the jetty at Immingham.

“This will be for future works in the pipeline. They are flooding this area to give them access to further development.

“They are using this area, Skeffling, Welwick and Easington as pay back because it is cheap land.

“Our bank is perfectly adequate to the west, it is the east bank which is the lowest and that’s the area which will not be included in the proposed works. We think they are riding roughshod over everybody in the area.”

Retired estimator and draughtsman Brian Biglin who often walks the banks of the river, said the agency was always “pleading poverty” when it came to maintenance but found the money to breach a “perfectly adequate” bank.

He said: “It is ridiculous that they are going to flood good agricultural land and breach the bank and say they are going to make a big strong flood bank when the one that’s there is perfectly adequate.”

Farmer and drainage contractor Mick Wilkin added: “They have done nothing to improve the bank, no maintenance whatsoever, then all of a sudden they want to be doing this and letting the tide in – it doesn’t make sense to me.”

Philip Winn, the Environment Agency’s Humber Strategies Manager, insisted that it was about improving local flood defences as well as creating new habitat.

He said 2014 was the “best estimate” for the start of work, but there was still land to be purchased, permissions to be gained and the planning process to go through. The work would take around a year and involve a new flood bank being built from the soil excavated from the site.

He said: “As you go through the Welwick area the standard of protection is quite poor. Under the Habitats Regulations we need to create habitat in the area where habitat losses are taking place.

“The scheme we are working towards at Skeffling is being delivered to allow us both to carry on with defence works in other parts of the estuary and we want to use it to do the best we can to improve the local standard of protection.”

He said he was quite happy for anyone with concerns to get in touch: “I understand very clearly the concerns, the unhappiness, about schemes of this sort, because there is a real cost that some agricultural land goes.

“We are always very happy to work with local people to try and make sure we do the best job we can. There are also budget limitations which mean we aren’t able to deliver what local people would see as the perfect maintenance response. I repeat we are very happy to listen to peoples’ concerns.”