Lincolnshire Fens will need 'billions' to stop it being reclaimed by the sea
Lincolnshire could be forced to “surrender the Fens” back to the sea unless billions are spent on new defences, councillors have been warned.
The manmade area is facing its gravest risk since it was drained 400 years ago due to ageing infrastructure and unpredictable weather.
Major efforts to prevent it from being reclaimed will need to be agreed within the next 10 to 15 years, the Environment Agency has said.
The Fens 2100+ project to plan, fund and build the new infrastructure has begun between the agency, Lincolnshire County Council and other partners.
Most of the area lies below sea level but is considered the breadbasket of Britain, producing a third of the country’s vegetables.
A meeting of the council’s Environment committee on Friday was told about the scale of the problem.
Amy Shaw, the Environment Agency’s Flood Risk Manager for the Fens, said: “The cost is likely to be billions, not millions.
“The problem will be here before 2100 – within the next 10 or 15 years, we will need to have a clear direction.”
She said groups had to work around the clock, every single day of the year to protect to keep it drained, and the job was only getting harder.
“It’s our generation’s job to make these decisions for the next generation,” she said.
Most of the Fens’ pumping stations and sluices were built in the 1960s and are approaching the end of their lives, while some embankments are 100 years old.
Hypothetical studies run by the Environment Agency show low-lying parts of Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire could permanently be under 1.5 metres of water within years if pumping stopped.
Daniel Withnall, the chief executive of the Black Sluice Internal Drainage Board, emphasised the urgency.
“If we do nothing, we are surrendering the south of Lincolnshire – that’s how drastic it is,” he said.
The partnership is beginning to put together proposals for the government about what money is needed and where.
Councillor Tom Ashton (Con) told the committee: “I’m pleased our ambition to defend the Fens matches the ambition of our ancestors to create it.
“It will come down to money, and a huge amount of it. It’s unfortunate that river maintenance money is going down, not up.”
Councillor Raymond Whitaker (Ref) said: “I’ve seen how old and decrepit some of this infrastructure is.
“Replacement needs to be the first thing. If we have a couple of big storms, the pumping stations could break down and Lincolnshire could flood.”
Councillor Ashley Baxter, who said his ancestor first arrived in the country as a refugee to help drain the Fens, described climate change as “the elephant in the room”, and predicted the area’s problems would only get worse.