Pincher Calls for Farmers to Allowed to Clear and Manage Their Watercourses

Yesterday in the House of Commons, Christopher Pincher called on the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government to put pressure on the Environment Agency to allow farmers to clear and manage the watercourses that cross their land to avoid flooding from nearby rivers.

During the debate on flooding Mr Pincher said, “The River Mease in my constituency has regularly flooded near Elford, Haunton and Harlaston, partly because the Environment Agency, with other agencies, has refused to allow farmers to clear and manage their watercourses.

“May I echo others by asking my right hon. Friend to encourage the practitioners of conventional orthodoxy to pay close attention to the concerns and advice of farmers, who are as expert at managing their fields and watercourses as anyone in the EA?”

The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Eric Pickles MP, replied, “We have looked to farmers and those in similar professions to help us out during this whole process and their local knowledge has often made the difference.  As I have said from the Dispatch Box, my right hon. Friend the Environment Secretary believes in that principle passionately, and I believe that good management is operated, if only by acting as an agency for the agency.”