Stuart Reynolds, of Horse Lane, Shaldon, writes:

By now, many of us will have seen BBC footage of a bedraggled and storm-tossed Anne-Marie Morris, MP, on the Dawlish sea wall, urging the case for more protection for the railway line.

No one would disagree with her that the railway line is, or was, a 'crucial artery along our coast.' She was undoubtedly right that protecting our line is important. She was also spot on that it was 'much more affordable to do that now. And we need a solution now!'

But then, when I wrote to Ms Morris two years ago, she responded by saying: 'Our railway line is important and I will continue to work with the government to ensure we keep getting the money we need.' A cleverly crafted response but nothing about needing a solution 'now' or the need for extra funding. The line was 'important' but not a 'vital artery'. Her point was that we were to 'keep getting' the money allocated by the government she supports.

Make no mistake – the failure of the sea wall at Dawlish, and the damage to the houses above, were a disaster waiting to happen.

Aside from my letter to her, her own party's environment minister, Lord Henley, stood on the Dawlish sea wall in January 2011 talking about climate change and the 'dramatic effects' the weather had on the operation of the line.

Sadly, little has been done. Rather than our 'keep getting' the funding we need, the reality is that Network Rail's budget is constrained.

According to a recent letter to the transport minister from a group of Labour and Lib Dem peers, Network Rail have 'suggested that they were limited in their ongoing work on this flood protection by the regulatory settlement for CP5' (ie their budget for 2014-2019). In other words, stripped of the jargon, not enough was being spent on resilience of the line because of the budget set by the rail regulator.

There is a reason why politicians stand in the rain demanding action 'now' and it's usually because they know more should have been done then.MORE LETTERS IN OUR DIGITAL EDITION