Environment Agency 'not liable' to pay compensation

​Victoria Atkins, Louth & Horncastle MP, hosted a Flood Forum yesterday (Friday), bringing together agencies and bodies to answer questions from residents following the devastating flooding in Horncastle and surrounding villages caused by torrential rain in October 2023.

Attending the meeting were representatives from the Environment Agency, various local drainage boards, and Lincolnshire County Council, with other parish and town councillors among the 100 or more attendees at the meeting, held in Horncastle Community Centre.

Earlier this week, the Environment Agency released its report into the flooding – which states that the flooding was caused by “extreme” rainfall, not the delay closing the sluice gate due to a fault (read the full story on the report here).

At the forum, Ms Atkins said that there were concerns about the report, accusing the EA of "marking its own homework" and that it left lots of questions about what went wrong.

Leigh Edlin, the EA’s Area Director, answered that it was “only right” that the agency hold an investigation when something goes wrong, and that the EA’s chief engineer and a consultant from the Met Office were brought in to look at what had happened.

Mr Edlin also stated that the EA would not be liable to pay any compensation to flood victims, as the agency was not directly responsible for the flooding.

He said: “For the EA to be liable, we would have to have caused the flooding, and that’s just not the case with the events in October, so we can’t pay compensation, which we know is a hard message to hear.”

Lincolnshire County Councillor Colin Davie was also in attendance on the panel, and he confirmed that a scrutiny committee had been set up to look into the events of Storm Babet and the council would be working with the EA to look again and cross-check everything that went on during the flooding.

At the meeting, several residents, some of whom were still living in temporary accommodation, asked their own questions of the panel, with a couple in Wood Enderby left devastated after their £300,000 home was destroyed, and they recounted having to rescue their drowning hens from their coops.

John Sanderson of Woodhall Spa Parish Council also pointed out that the flooding has caused the cemetery to be closed, and a number of funerals had had to be turned away.

The Horncastle Flood Storage Reservoir was designed to reduce the flood risk along the River Bain in Horncastle to a one in 100 chance in any year – but the report stated that Storm Babet brought a far greater flood event, with a one in 1,000 chance in any year.

The report into the flooding events also concluded that even if the sluice gate had opened as it should, it would only have delayed the flooding by one hour due to the “extreme flood” – to which one attendee of the meeting asked “what was the point of the reservoir?”

Mr Edlin responded that more homes would have been flooded had the reservoir not been there, but that the rainfall over October 19-20 exceeded what the reservoir was designed to take, and that “we did say it would not protect Horncastle under all circumstances”.

"We understand it is upsetting, but we’ve conducted an investigation and there’s no intention to mislead anyone.”

Horncastle Town Councillor Fiona Martin then asked the panel if it was time to reconsider a similar flood scheme for the River Wareing, to which Coun Davie said that the whole of Horncastle would be considered in the upcoming scrutiny.

As the meeting concluded, Victoria Atkins thanked the panel, her team, and everyone who attended.

She said: “There’s a real need for residents and businesses to be heard and get answers and I’m grateful to the panelists who came here and answered some tough questions.

"People still living in temporary accommodation and people’s funerals being cancelled, this is the real impact on people’s lives and that need to be addressed and they need help.”