Sir – I understand the concerns of Anne and Peter Furtado (Letters, July 24), but those who live in areas where there is risk of flooding — whether by choice or otherwise — are unfortunately liable to get flooded (the Environment Agency’s maps, whilst not perfect, are a guide to this possibility).
And we have to spend £125m carefully, even if this grates with those so afflicted. In my experience, the ‘acid test’ for the economic viability of flood risk reduction schemes such as the Western Conveyance is at least in part whether those who benefit thereby are willing to pay to have the risk they face reduced, rather than rely on huge cross-subsidies from the flood-free taxpayer.
In Oxford, for the Conveyance, this amounts to some £2.25m for each and every house that is at significant risk and therefore liable to be regularly flooded. Any offers?
Prof Edmund Penning-Rowsell, Distinguished Research Associate, Oxford University Centre for the Environment
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