Minutes:
(1) Members of the Committee had visited the flood defences at Robertsbridge before the meeting (including an exercise with the flood alleviation scheme in partial operation). This had been followed by a visit to the Woodside Pumping Station, which was in the process of being repaired.
(2) The Chairman thanked the Environment Agency for the interesting and informative tour during the morning. He asked on behalf of the Committee whether there could be a second visit to the Woodside Pumping Station once the work had been completed.
(3) Mr Richard Knight from the Environment Agency began his presentation by explaining the very unusual weather patterns which had occurred over the previous months. The jet stream was further south than was normal, leading to low pressure systems moving north east across southern parts of England. Meanwhile, the surface temperatures in the North Atlantic had been higher than usual. It was possible (but not proven) that the shrinking polar ice cap was responsible for these conditions. In any case, these factors had brought about unusually high levels of rain in April and May.
(4) Mr Knight then said that the previous five summers had all been wetter than average and that there had been very unusual weather patterns in the whole of the Northern Hemisphere. In the UK, the effects had been similar to those of 2007. There had been floods in Wales, Cumbria, Hampshire, Dorset and East Anglia.
(5) Mr Knight went on to say that the Environment Agency’s regional Instant response staff covered Kent, South East London, parts of Surrey and East Sussex. Their task had traditionally been to respond to severe weather which built up in a slow moving system over a long period. It was now increasingly the case that they had to respond to much more sudden rainstorms. Examples of these had occurred at Bearstowe in Surrey in June when 45 millimetres had fallen in 5 hours. In July, a storm had stopped above Edenbridge in Kent, depositing 40 millimetres.
(6) Mr Knight concluded his presentation by saying that the Incident Room in Addington had been opened on six occasions in June and July 2012 (the first time this had ever happened during these months).
(7) Mr Knight responded to Members’ questions by saying that most scientists had concluded that extreme weather patterns would become more common as a result of global warming and melting ice caps. Ocean cooling did not necessarily result from melting ice caps. Scientists were well aware of the La Nina and El Nino effects in the Pacific Ocean area (where high or low sea temperatures could translate into their opposites in landed areas. It was quite possible that an effect along these lines could occur in the Atlantic area. It was, though definitely the case that the glaciers were retreating on an annual basis even though they did make up some of that loss during the winter months.
(8) Mr Knight responded to further questions by saying that DEFRA assumed an average increase in sea level of 6 centimetres per year. This was especially significant for Kent which had more people at risk of coastal flooding than any other authority in the UK. He was able to confirm that the multi-agency flood plans contained a comprehensive list of resources and equipment for flood prevention/mitigation.
(9) RESOLVED that Mr Knight be thanked for his informative and thought-provoking presentation.