Farmer: James Winslade
Acting Chief Executive, Somerset County Council: Pat Flaherty
RSPB Head of Policy: Sue Armstrong Brown
Director for the South West Region of the Environment Agency: Richard Cresswell
Much of the Somerset Levels has been underwater now for two months, many have left their homes and some villages have been virtually abandoned. Tonight Inside Out invites key decision makers, residents and those responsible for the levels to a special flooding debate, to discuss how we've got to this position and what should happen next.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b03xlk2f/Inside_Out_West_Flooding_Debate/
Note: like on Points West BBC West fail to credit the production team of this programme
The haunting images of abandoned and devastated homes were worth any thousand of the words from assembled experts on the BBC Inside Out West flooding debate special last night, says Western Daily Press' Head of Content Richard Bache.
Nine very long and wet weeks have passed since large parts of the Somerset Levels began to flood.
Last night in Bridgwater the BBC assembled an audience of affected residents, various experts, politicians and emergency service personnel to debate the floods and the future of the Somerset Levels.
To readers of the Western Daily Press little of what was said would have come as a huge surprise.
The library footage from 2012 of a bumbling Environment Agency chairman Lord Smith avoiding giving a straight answer to the BBC's Clinton Rogers on this very subject in many ways defines the Environment Agency's performance in the run-up to this disaster.
It might cry poverty, but the false economy of not dredging has been exposed as penny-wise, pound-foolish thinking of the highest order.
However substantial and significant the efforts of its frontline staff have been in the weeks since the flooding began, cannot disguise the part its management played in the years before this crisis.
As farmer James Winslade noted on the programme, this flooding began very early this winter after a relatively short period of rain.
It can be argued that the subsequent record deluges of rain that the Environment Agency and others now forcefully argue are to blame for this flooding are something of a red herring. The sopping wet January and February have certainly exacerbated the problem, but the accumulated wisdom of local people suggests that if the rivers had been maintained properly then the flooding wouldn't have started until much later and would not have devastated such a wide area.
The only MP to appear on the programme -- Liberal Democrat for Wells, Tessa Munt -- came across well.
It would have perhaps made better television if outspoken Bridgwater and West Somerset MP Ian Liddell-Grainger MP had appeared, but he, along with other Somerset MPs such as David Heath and Jeremy Browne did not accept the BBC's invite.
The incalculable damage to Somerset's economy and business community was scarcely touched on during the debate, other than the narrow element of farmers' losses.
Figures from local government to appear included acting chief executive of Somerset County Council Patrick Flaherty and chief executive of Sedgemoor District Council Kerry Rickards.
County Councillor Justine Baker spoke with her Flooding on the Levels Action Group hat -- or to be more accurate hoodie -- on. It was though somewhat remiss of her not to declare the interest that she is standing in the Bridgwater and West Somerset seat for the Liberal Democrats at the next general election.
Chief Superintendent Caroline Peters of Avon and Somerset Police spoke on behalf of the emergency services. Her message was somewhat drowned in a torrent of police jargon relating to gold and silver commands. Not a medal-winning performance.
http://www.westerndailypress.co.uk/BBC-Inside-West-flooding-debate-special-review/story-20763834-detail/story.html
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