(Cllr Chris Matthews, Graham Stuart MP & Timothy Kirkhope MEP)
Graham is taking the lead on the River Hull Advisory Board to put together a 20 year plan for the management of the river.
Graham said, “If we simply continue as we are, with the threat of rising sea levels and higher rain fall, we will actually see the level of flood protection decrease.
“The River Hull Advisory Board is looking at the river as a whole as it is important to understand the effect the management of one part of the river has on another and the benefit or problems this may bring to a different area along the river.
“The Board is drawing on the wealth of knowledge and expertise from the Internal Drainage Board, The Environment Agency, The National Farmers Union, East Riding of Yorkshire Council and local farmers to ensure the River Hull Strategy is workable for everybody.
“I am pleased that our MEP, Timothy Kirkhope also attended the Advisory Board meeting last week. It is good to have our representative in Brussels taking an interest in how European directives play out in practice at home.”
Commenting, Timothy Kirkhope said, “I was very pleased to be able to attend the Advisory Board meeting to offer my support to Graham and the other representatives present because there may be ways in which European Directives can be used to alleviate the situation of potential flooding in future. I will be speaking with European Commission staff in the next few weeks to see what can be done."
Graham added, “The demand for higher spending on flood protection comes at a time of great pressure on all budgets and it is vital that we find innovative ways to bring quality flood protection to homes and businesses along the river catchment area.”
