A recent report by @WildJustice_org suggests that developers aren’t delivering promised environmental outcomes on new developments.



So I thought I’d put it to the test on a newish housing site close to me.

A 🧵wildjustice.org.uk/general/lost-n… In 2014 Bovis Homes were granted permission on appeal (it was very controversial at the time) to build 45 houses on a greenfield site in Powick, Worcestershire.

Work began later that year and the site was complete about 18 months later.

After the horrible flooding in Tenbury on Sunday - the second flood in five weeks - some thoughts on flood defences for the town.

A 🧵 Tenbury is a beautiful historic market town situated on the south bank of the River Teme, in the north west corner of Worcestershire.

It is also located at the confluence of a significant tributary of the Teme - the Kyre Brook.

The town centre is flat and low lying.

Inevitably there’s considerable interest in what impacts a Valencia type of rainfall event would have on the UK.

A 🧵

metro.co.uk/2024/11/01/hap… Firstly it’s highly unlikely rainfall as intense and extreme would affect the UK.

It was caused by a well known meteorological setup that creates large, repeating thunderstorms and is fuelled and fed by a very hot Mediterranean.

Short 🧵 on February’s deluge.

It was exceptionally wet across England.

In fact, the 4th wettest February since 1871 with 225% of average rainfall. Fenland in East Anglia saw 350%!

But that’s only half the story. It’s been very wet for a long time. It’s been the wettest year and 18 months across England since records began in 1871.

As the waters recede on another monster flood, thousands of homes and businesses along the Severn and Wye remain dry thanks to flood defences.

They work.

But they’re not the answer to future flooding and are creating a false sense of security.

A (long!) 🧵 Since the devastating floods of 1998 and 2000 this area has been a test bed for novel flood protection methods and has also received many millions of £ to build defences.

Remember Prescott in his wellies, the flood sausage, prototype A frames?

Quite rightly a lot of recent coverage of the difficulties farmers have been facing due to the recent deluge.

Unfortunately this is just the beginning.

Some thoughts

A 🧵 Farming always has, and always will be, to a large extent at the mercy of the weather.


And the weather in the UK is notoriously variable as we sit in the battleground of various airmasses.

Sewage spill data for 2022 just published. Short 🧵

And it’s eye watering stuff.

Untreated sewage discharged to English & Welsh rivers for over 1.7 million hours. Although a ridiculous number, it’s a million hours down on 2021 figure.

This is entirely due to 2022 being a very dry year with a 100mm rainfall deficit across the year.

Heavy rainfall events were rare during 2022.

Some thoughts on the current water situation.

A 🧵

Big concerns going into this winter about dry reservoirs and the spectre of serious water shortages next summer. Predictably, those fears soon disappeared as half the country disappeared under water during early January.

Many (not all) reservoirs were full and there was even groundwater flooding in parts of southern England.

Flooding on the Rivers Severn & Wye is becoming more frequent and more extreme.

Some thoughts.

A 🧵 Big floods that would have been once in a generation events thirty years ago are now happening on an almost annual basis.

Something has changed.

Lots in the news about low reservoirs and dry rivers which have not seen since the drought of 1976.

Context is everything.

This is why we should be concerned. A short 🧵 The great drought of 76 is a thing of legend.

Weeks of summer fun and queueing for standpipes.

I’m old enough to remember it and it’s the only time I remember the landscape looking similar to now.

But the vital difference is 76 was the result of 18 dry months not 6.