No mention of EU directive

His analysis of the chief causal factor behind the recent flooding was right on the money.

The effects of those horrendous levels of flooding, which caused so much devastation and misery to thousands, many in our own region, is still being experienced.

We must never forget them.

When the floods struck, there immediately began the blame game.

The media, collectively, began to lay the blame totally at the feet of the Government for inadequate financial provision for flood defences.

However, as Mr Bearby points out, there was absolutely no reference by the media to The European Water Framework Directive, 2000 (WFD).

The full gamut of this is detailed in Mr Bearby’s letter so I won’t repeat it.

Essentially, the act stopped us, as a nation, from carrying out actions previously undertaken, which for centuries had mitigated the effects of excessive rainfall.

Dredging of rivers and waterways and removing silt is now no longer carried out, by order of the EU, thus laying a great degree of responsibility for flood damage at the EU’s door.

Dredging of rivers alone may not have prevented the full scale of devastation experienced by the floods.

Indeed, more could have been spent on flood defences.

This is a matter of debate.

But when a tried and tested procedure is banned, as is the case with dredging, serious questions must be asked.

Why was WFD not mentioned in any of the coverage of the devastation caused by the floods by both the broadcast and written media?

Dave Pascoe,

Press secretary,

Ukip, Hartlepool branch,

Dunbar Road,

Hartlepool.