Environment Agency

29 January 2005
Environment Consultation Useless says John Gummer

"The Envrionment Agency's so-called consultation on coastal defence is a sham" said John Gummer, speaking in Woodbridge on Sunday Jan 22nd "They ask us to choose among a series of options, none of which is costed and none in sufficient detail to make an informed judgement. The 'road show' does not give any further useful material but simply repeats the vague comments in the consultation document'.

'We all want to hold the line and protect the Suffolk Ccast, our homes, fields, and countryside. If the Environment Agency wants to let the water in, then it must say why and explain the cost of each of the alternativesuggestions. No costs - no useful consultation. No sane businessman would make an investment decision without detailed budgets and compaisons. Yet that is what the EA is suggesting.

It is not even able to provide full details of key parts of the options they present. They suggest the horrific idea of allowing the sea in Slaughden but don't say where! That is a crucial bit of information for any assessment of the proposal. Every other proposal is as sketchy and entirely uncosted. This is decision making of the madhouse.

We all must reply to the consultation or they will say we don't care. Our answers must be simple. We want them to hold the line against the sea and we will not even consider the slightest amendment to that line without full costings, full details, and independent expert assessments of the effect on our fields, our homes, and our Suffolk heritage.