Coggeshall dam video neglects key points, says campaign group
Coggeshall Residents Against the Quarry is calling for the scheme to be dropped
Campaigners claim that the Environment Agency has failed to mention key facts in an opening promotional video into plans for a dam and quarry scheme for the River Blackwater at Coggeshall.
The scheme involves a 300-metre dam and a 400-acre quarrying operation to pay for the dam and extend the floodplain protecting that village and its neighbours Feering and Kelvedon.
The area has seen significant flooding over the past two decades with the worst seen in 2001 when the centre of Coggeshall became submerged.
The dam itself would stretch from Coggeshall Football Club to the Essex Way footpath south of the river.
The Environment Agency says the structure would be "blended in with the landscape".
But campaigners say a promotional video neglects to mention that the dam will only protect against a one in 100 year event not like those shown in 2001, which were equivalent to a one in 1,000 year event.
Campaigners claim that it will not protect against the greater risk in Coggeshall of surface water flooding and flooding from Robins Brook.
They say its need is doubtful with the existing floodplain having coped well and there has been no flooding in the village.
This winter is said to have been acknowledged by the Environment Agency as having been exceptionally wet.
Campaign group Coggeshall Residents Against the Quarry ( CRAQ ) is calling for the scheme to be dropped altogether.
Spokesperson Rosie Pearson said:
"This dam and quarry project is the most environmentally damaging and least popular of all flood management options considered.
"By far the most cost-effective and popular option would be natural flood management through tree-planting and creation of attenuation ponds.
"Instead, the Environment Agency has chosen a commercial bedfellow, Blackwater Aggregates.
"Blackwater Aggregates will contribute £8 million towards the cost of the dam and will use the flood scheme as justification for extracting 13 million tonnes of aggregates from the valley – extraction that is not included in the Essex Minerals Plan.
"There are many questions about this arrangement and CRAQ stands ready to challenge this contentious scheme robustly.
"Our barrister has been instructed to scrutinize the proposals.
"We urge the Environment Agency and the land-owner, the London Diocese, to reconsider."
An Environment Agency spokesperson said:
"With the impacts of climate change already being felt in the form of extreme weather, a long term sustainable solution is needed to reduce flood risk in the Blackwater Valley.
"Our extensive modelling shows that the proposed Flood Alleviation Scheme remains the best and only option for people and property in Coggeshall, Feering and Kelvedon."