Two committee members, myself and chairman Betty Hood, have just completed a year of discussion and study as part of a combined group of Ryedale residents and top academics from the Universities of Oxford, Durham, Newcastle and East Anglia, called the Ryedale Flood Research Group. Hopefully, some of you will have visited the exhibition we staged in the Memorial Hall on 28th October, or read the reports in the local press.
The findings of the group were presented in a formal report, which can be found on the website: http://knowledge-controversies.ouce.ox.ac.uk along with a great deal of other flood related information.
        Among other ideas, the Civic Society had already suggested the possibility of using simple bunds or dams for upstream flood water storage and questioned the lack of river maintenance by the Environment Agency (vegetation & silt removal), which slows the escape of water below the town. The research group willingly took up these ideas for further study and subsequently produced sound scientific evidence that the bunds could provide an extremely cost-effective solution to protect Pickering from flooding, with minimal environmental and visual impact. It was also proved that EA claims of maintenance being ineffective were inaccurate for the small to medium sized rivers common to Ryedale – in fact, the presence of excessive silt and vegetation had a significant impact on flood risk.
        It will be an uphill (if not vertical) struggle to convince the EA to spend money on river maintenance, due to the policies laid down by DEFRA, whereby rural areas are expected to flood to protect urban areas. However, a feasibility study has been confirmed by the EA, to look in greater detail at the idea of bunds and there is also a possibility of funding for the work being found. This is in addition to £1m already promised by Ryedale DC.
        For the past five years, the EA and Government Ministers have repeatedly rejected the planned flood walls on cost-benefit grounds and have reached a total impasse on defending the town from flooding, despite the fact that one of their stated strategic aims it to ‘reduce flood risk at Pickering’. This scheme gives the EA a ‘get-out clause’ and represents the only realistic chance the town has of flood protection and I encourage each and every one of you to support it in any way you can. After five significant flood events in the last nine years, it is imperative that the town presents a united front to the EA to show our determination to gain some protection. To this end, it would be appreciated if anyone with doubts or opposition to the proposals first approaches those of us who know the full details.
        For details of membership, please contact www.pickeringcivicsociety.btik.com

Mike Potter.