TIDAL and flood defence schemes across Teignbridge face delays after being sunk by a budget shortfall. Hopes of the Shaldon flood defence works – construction was due around 2008/09 – have been breached and Environment Agency funding is not now likely to be available until 2009 at the earliest. It is schemes in the design stage that will suffer the delay and also unlikely to proceed on schedule is the project for the Teignmouth Back Beach, though that is still in the early stages of consultation with the town council and other parties and has not yet made it to a firm scheme on the programme. Two land-drainage schemes, which it has been looking at progressing in Ashburton and Kingsteignton, will also suffer delay, but it is hoped that the Dawlish Warren Study will not be affected by the funding situation. At the Warren there are concerns about the erosion of the beach and the obvious knock-on effect on the tourist industry, while the study not only involves Dawlish Warren but the River Exe and Exmouth Beach. The EA has proposals for flood defence projects across the country but in a nutshell the government has recently cut Defra's finances and that in turn has resulted in reducing the money available to the EA. On Wednesday, Devon County and Teignbridge councillor Gordon Hook, described the situation as 'a false economy'. 'Despite the EA's best efforts to protect us against flooding, the government has pulled the rug from under our feet. 'The prime minister tells us that global warming is the key threat to our civilisation, and at the same time his environment secretary cuts flood defence money. 'This is an incredibly foolish and false economy when we know that storms are becoming more extreme and flood risks are increasing. 'I am desperately concerned that the beautiful village of Shaldon is now being put at greater risk,' he said. Teignbridge councillor David Cox said he was disappointed to hear of the delay, but they would work hard to ensure Teignmouth and Shaldon got the flood defences they needed. In a statement an EA spokesman said it was obviously disappointing that the Shaldon project has had to be delayed. 'We will continue to work with the local community to progress the scheme at the earliest opportunity subject to getting the necessary funding. Savings are being sought for this financial year and the next to meet the shortfall in the budget. 'We have moved immediately to review options for managing the budget reduction in the least damaging way possible. Ideally we would have wanted these reductions to have arisen from our ongoing programme of identifying efficiencies and improving productivity, but the scale of the reductions are over and above our planned efficiency programme. 'The fact that the savings must be achieved in just over half the financial year will mean that some of the reductions will involve delaying things we would really have preferred not to delay,' he said. The spokesman added that he did not know how long the delay would be. John Cocker, the head of design services at Teignbridge Council, said hopefully the EA would continue with the design of the Shaldon scheme. 'At Teignbridge we will do all we can to assist the EA with the scheme and that also applies to the consultation stage we are at with the Teignmouth Back Beach tidal defence scheme. 'We hope that as soon as the EA resolves its funding situation it will progress the Shaldon scheme,' said Mr Cocker. Teignbridge MP Richard Younger-Ross is planning a meeting with Shaldon Parish Council and the EA, at the earliest opportunity. District councillor David Cox said he was disappointed to hear of the delay, but they would work hard to ensure Teignmouth and Shaldon got the flood defences they needed. Ironically the news comes in a week when the EA launched its National Flood Awareness Campaign, revealing that homeowners who are flooded stand to lose on average more than £28,000 compared to £900 if they are burgled. Around 160,000 homes and businesses in the South West are in flood risk areas, and the annual damage from flooding in England and Wales is estimated at £1 billion and this figure is set to increase if the risk continues to be ignored.
