Grenfell Tower, and the disastrous fire that took so many lives back in June 2017 was just another example of how our politicians, planner’s architects and builders let us down, while failing to accept responsibility for the consequences of their decisions. The Inquiry into this disaster has recently published the phase 2 report and it lays bare how dysfunctional national and local government, feeble regulators and amoral businesses were jointly responsible for the avoidable catastrophe that led to 72 deaths.
Here in Wokingham we have very few high rise tower blocks, but we do have a serious potential disaster waiting to happen in the form of flooding. Right now in central Europe we are seeing devastating floods that have already taken 4 lives, with CNN reporting parts of Romania and Poland received the heaviest rainfall they have experienced in 100 years over the past 24 hours, with much more still to come. How long will it be before we experience such flooding here?
These “once in a lifetime” events are becoming more frequent because of global warming. Extreme precipitation is becoming more likely in Europe, as across much of the world, due to climate change. This is because a warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture, which can lead to heavier rainfall. The risk to life and property at the “Loddon Valley Garden Village” is not just from the River Loddon either. It also come from the Bearwood Lake reservoir, situated just above the site where the new Local Plan proposes to build 3,930 new homes. It holds over 25,000m3 of water, and in the words of Wokingham’s own flood risk assessment:
“a sudden failure of the embankments retaining the stored water could have a catastrophic effect on properties situated in the path of the resulting flood wave. The possible failure of the underground system is also a risk. However, it is notoriously difficult to measure in real terms the potential risk of a structural failure of this nature occurring”.
Yet on Thursday September 12th our “Leader”, Stephen Conway, writes in Wokingham Today that the proposed new Local Plan will protect the Borough from “inappropriate” new building! He is joined in this clarion call to concrete over the Loddon Valley by Wokingham Today, which in an unattributed column sees fit to join in the debate. This is not reporting, this is propaganda, and I was extremely disappointed to read it.
The irony of it all is that on the same page as the two exhortations referred to above, and next to my letter complaining of “Two Tier Planning” in Wokingham, was a picture showing the ferocious thunderstorms experienced locally on September 8th.
Perhaps we should all take a leaf out of Sir Ed Davey’s book and swop our cars for more water capable transport?
Still from BBC footage of Sir Ed arriving at the Lib Dem conference on a Jet Ski.
Paul Stevens
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