IN SEPTEMBER 2015, the Pickering flood scheme was completed at a cost of about £2.5m. Since December 26, it has been called into action on four occasions and has protected the town from moderate flooding by storing the floodwater upstream of the town amidst devastation all across northern England.

I was therefore greatly saddened and deeply disappointed with the letter from Councillor Di Keal (January 20).

Throughout the Slowing the Flow (STF) scheme, I have continually stressed that it will protect Pickering from only up to 1:25 year events and that anything greater will flood the town, although there will be very accurate warnings of when this will occur.

The limited funding was mostly from local taxpayers and there was no more. The flood walls that Coun Keal refers to were also designed to the same 1:25 year protection level at a cost of about £10m and would therefore have only provided the same protection as the upstream measures, but with additional inherent problems.

The degree of flood protection provided will always be proportionate to available funding. Neither Pickering, nor any other No part of the country can be fully protected from major flooding without massive cost. However, similar cost-effective and eco-friendly schemes to Pickering can, and must be implemented in many upper catchments with the correct planning and flood modelling.

It should be part of a ‘whole catchment’ approach and may be used in conjunction with hard defences, carefully-targeted dredging and greatly improved management of peat moorland and flood plains.

However, expensive flood walls will only protect the immediate vicinity and create further problems with pumping surface water from the ‘wrong side of the walls’ into the river, as residents of Malton and Norton will be acutely aware. Upstream storage will cost a fraction of flood walls and will be effective for the full length of the watercourse, including all town and villages en route. Great for cost/benefit analysis.

Councillor Mike Potter, Ryedale Flood Research Group

 

What works best?

IN the light of the recent “generous” rainfall in the area, I HAVE found it interesting to compare the experiences in Picker-ing, Malton and Thornton-le-Dale.

While not necessarily the way we might have chosen to test the new flood defences above Pickering, The dissenting voices who argued about the ‘unnecessary expenditure’ of an untested system above Pickering must surely be at least muted now.

One particular joy of the Pickering system is that instead of relying on building ever-higher barriers or operating ever-larger pumps for ever-longer periods of time, the flow from the hills is moderated, which means you can have a lively but not livelihood-threatening water flow.

There are those who argue that channels should be dredged deeper and deeper; apart from ignoring the eroding power of running water, this would also mean that the silty run-off from fields is lost to agriculture and destined to present additional problems downstream when the flow eases.

There is, of course, the question of what is to be done with silt that is encouraged to settle higher, but with proper analysis to determine safety, replacing it on the land would seem to be sensible – thus ensuring the continuing fertility of the fields.

In Thornton-le-Dale, rather than wait for disaster to prove the danger of the weed in the beck and then call for help, the parish council arranged for some of the weed to be removed. While Malton was cut off, Thornton Beck remained in bounds.

There is debate about whether the expenditure is recoverable from the Environment Agency as flood prevention works, but the parish council decided that it made no sense to ignore the already heightened beck in the interests of the residents. Longer-term adjustments should realistically be made to moderate the flow but the response to requests for such works seems to translate as ‘unless you show us the disaster, we cannot release the funding’.

The extent of the inundation and disruption to Malton surely exemplifies the value of proactive measures. It is a tribute to the Environment Agency that the flooding has been and is being as contained as it is at present, but it is still causing considerable disruption to the community.

Councillor Sandra Bell, coordinator, Malton and Thirsk Green Party

 

Democracy eroded

REFERRING to the letter from Nigel Copsey (January 20), I can totally understand his concerns.

This government, with its use of statutory instruments to pass laws without proper parliamentary or public debate such as one used to allow fracking under national parks, is gradually snuffing out the democratic process.

It has also proposed measures to fast track shale gas planning applications, tried to bully local authorities into making quick decisions and offering financial incentives to co-operate.

There is clearly no level playing field on this issue. The government has cut subsidies to householders generating green energy and at the same time giving the fossil fuel industry huge subsidies mainly in the form of tax breaks and plans to cut taxes on fracking. It also plans to give local communities the chance to halt the development of wind farms, but not fracking.

The government is losing the PR battle on this issue and knows this.In view all of this it is hardly surprising that people consider that direct action may be the only option left.

Phil Rowland, Pickering

 

We’re not children

I AM with Neil Milbanke on the subject of fracking. We are not children, to be supplied with energy by benevolent adults/foreign suppliers with a hand on the tap: we should make some effort to fend four ourselves.

Chris Jones’ letter quoting the landed grandees reads like something out of a vintage Monty Python, six votes in all. How many of these “wood burners” can point out where the Sourgas Plant is?

C Bratley, Westow

 

Stop all these personal slurs

IT is very sad in this day and age when every argument has to be reduced to personality, and not the facts. Are we not bigger than that? We all know the background of our MP Kevin Hollinrake, so why all the slurs?

The views of Steve Mason are obviously not the same as our MP. Steve should recognise there are two sides to every case.

He should also remember Kevin Hollinrake polled 27,545 votes compared to the Independent, anti-fracking candidate Philip Tate, who polled 692.  I realise these are only figures, but they do say something.

I trust our MP, and he represents all the voters, to stand up for us.

Robert Churton, Stillington

 

Not quite so open minded on issue

WHENEVER a constituent complains about the threat of fracking, Mr Hollinrake always tells them to be “open-minded’, when it is clear that he is anything but. 

Mr Hollinrake has already hosted PR meetings for Third Energy at Kirby Misperton, voted in favour of fracking under National Parks and AONBs, and recently stated that “having weighed up all the arguments I have concluded that fracking should go ahead in the constituency”.

Now he has been forced to resign from his position as vice-chairman of a Parliamentary Committee, claiming that he had no knowledge that it was funded by the fracking industry – even though he has been vice-chairman of the committee for eight months.

It is therefore impossible to see that he can continue to portray himself as “open-minded”, when he is clearly doing all he can to make fracking happen in North Yorkshire, against the wishes of his constituency.

Anne Stewart, Helmsley

 

Fracking backed despite feeling 

DEAR Kevin Hollirake, I note that you recently voted with the Government in support of “fracking” within the UK, and more particularly within your constituency of Ryedale.

I also note your previous comments that you believe that about 70 per cent of the population of Ryedale are opposed to “fracking” within Ryedale.

You have also stated that it is your intention to represent Ryedale in Westminster rather than Westminster in Ryedale.

Please would you advise on how you reconcile your actions with your stated intentions?

Dr Stephen Richardson, Thornton-le-Dale

 

Drilling may have weighty burden

A QUESTION for members of the North Yorkshire County Council planning committee as they deliberate the application to permit fracking at Kirby Misperton: Do members of the planning committee accept that a commercially successful frack at KM8 will set a national precedent, probably leading to a proliferation of applications to drill and frack in Ryedale and elsewhere, and that therefore their decision is of historic significance in the UK’s fight against global warming and carries a heavy burden of responsibility vis à vis the locality, the UK and the rest of the world?

David Cragg-James, Stonegrave

 

Money down the pan over parking 

RE: Wentworth Street car park: What a horrendous amount off our ratepayer’s money (£1.7million) down the pan, for something that Malton did not want in the first place.

Ryedale District Council should have listen to us in the fist place. This should come out off the councillors’ pocket, not the rate payers. Turn the part off the under used car park, into something more useful, such as low-cost council housing.

Jarvis and Dorothy Browning, Fadmoor

 

Councillors need to clean up act

WITH reference to the Wentworth Street car park fiasco and Linda Cowling’s comment that “we start with a clean sheet”. You and your councillors certainly do not. You start with a “loss” of £1.7m wasted on your grandiose ideas. Could you tell us how you are going to replace that wasted money, and do not dare to put up council taxes this coming year.

Neil Hardman, Pickering

 

Slowing the flow is way forward

IN reply to the letter from Di Keal (January 20) with the heading Slowing the Flow is not Holy Grail, I imagine the people of Pickering would disagree with that statement.

With the newly-completed bund costing about £2.5m above the town, it was interesting to see the result of its capabilities during the recent downpour which devastated vast areas of Yorkshire and beyond, in the past Pickering would also have been flooded.

I was fortunate enough to be part of the original eight local people and eight scientists who for a year worked together investigating all possible options in finding a way to prevent Pickering from future flooding. Mike Potter, as our spokesman, has been instrumental in pushing that scheme forward.

The scheme, which was put forward some years ago which Di Keal said she and her husband were involved in using “hard and soft defences” would not have worked for Pickering.

There were too many areas where it would be problematic and of course would have been very unsightly in our beautiful town.

It was interesting that the flood defences for Malton and Norton campaigned for by Mr and Mrs Keal some years ago at a massive cost of £10.3m still needed staff and officers from Ryedale and North Yorkshire Councils to work over the holiday period providing pumps to ensure homes and businesses were not flooded.

Slowing the Flow is the way forward for flood management in the future and although such a scheme cannot be implemented everywhere, it is often a less obtrusive and more cost effective method.

Betty Grave, Pickering

 

Panto show is a real treat for all

ON behalf of myself and the mayor of Norton Councillor Ray King and our consorts, I would like to say how much we all enjoyed the pantomime of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

As ever, the standard was so high and the amazing talent of our young people in our area shines through. As I have expressed many times, these things don’t just happen. There is a huge amount of work put in by Angela and her team of volunteers and parents who pool their talents to put the show together.

I was very impressed by the design and painting of the scenery, the music, lighting and costumes. We are so fortunate to have these shows in our town for our enjoyment. I look forward to the next production of Singing in the Rain. Well done to all who were involved and thank you so much for a super evening.

Coun Joan Lawrence, mayor of Malton