Press release: Work starts on £11million North East flood scheme

The Environment Agency has joined forces with local businesses to reduce the risk of flooding to the community and give wildlife a boost in Teesside.

Work has started on the £11million project, which will increase flood protection from Greatham Creek while creating around 30 hectares of extra habitat.

The Environment Agency is working with local businesses in the area with SABIC UK providing funding towards the scheme and INOVYN ChlorVinyls providing some of their land for the additional habitat creation.

And they are working closely with partners at RSPB and Natural England to design and build a scheme which maximises benefits for the internationally designated habitat, and to ensure disruption to wildlife and visitors to the local area is kept to a minimum.

New habitat creation

The first phase of the project, which saw new flood defences built at Port Clarence to reduce flood risk from the River Tees at a cost of £4.5million, was finished in December 2015.

Phase two will see the Environment Agency raise existing flood embankments along Greatham Creek, to reduce the flood risk to Port Clarence and land which is south of the Creek.

There will also be a managed realignment of part of the current flood defences. This means a new embankment to the north of RSPB Saltholme Nature Reserve will be built around a larger area of land, and then the existing flood embankment will be breached.

This results in the creation of around 30 hectares of intertidal habitat to the north of the nature reserve. It’s a popular area frequented by seals, and a variety of bird species including shelduck, knot and redshank.

Image shows seals at Greatham Creek — Seals at Greatham Creek

Phase 2 is expected to be complete by the end of 2018. Together the projects reduce the risk of flooding from both the River Tees and Greatham Creek at Port Clarence, protecting 350 homes and 32 businesses.

‘Vastly improving existing defences’

The Environment Agency’s Senior Advisor on the scheme Phil Marshall said:

I remember well the devastating impact the tidal surge in December 2013 had on the area, affecting around 50 homes and businesses.

By working together with local industry we’re vastly improving existing defences to protect residents and businesses and reduce the risk of flooding now and into the future as sea levels start to rise.

It’s a great example of how we’re working closely with partners, businesses and communities to create long-term, sustainable solutions to flooding while also making enhancements to the environment.

This is a vital conservation area enjoyed by visitors from far and wide and we’re taking the opportunity to create 30 hectares of extra habitat to ensure wildlife continues to thrive.

In addition, while access to the creek is limited during the work, we are working with RSPB Saltholme to enable visitors to see live images from the creek of the ever popular seals.

Image shows Daren Smith, SABIC site director, and Phil Marshall, Environment Agency Senior Advisor — Image shows (L) Daren Smith, SABIC site director, and (R) Phil Marshall, Environment Agency Senior Advisor

Working in partnership

Daren Smith, SABIC Site Director (acting) added:

As a responsible company, SABIC take the protection of our environment and our communities extremely seriously. Our own land was devastated by the flood but our employees worked extremely hard and quickly with local agencies to rebuild some of the natural habitats that exist there.

SABIC are delighted to be working in partnership with the Environment Agency and other agencies to enable this vital sustainable project to be delivered.

Contractors BMMJV (BAM Nuttall and Mott MacDonald Joint Venture), are carrying out the work on behalf of the Environment Agency.

Phase 1 of the scheme saw new flood defences built in Port Clarence, consisting of a mixture of earth embankments, flood walls, and a raised section of the road on the approach to the Transporter Bridge.

In addition, the Environment Agency worked together with local business Wilton Engineering to install removable steel flood defences along the River Tees to improve flood protection while still allowing Wilton to operate from the river.

If you would like to know more about your risk of flooding and how to be prepared call Floodline on 0345 988 1188, or visit www.gov.uk/flood

Theresa May leads a near zombie government

There is a type of business which the media call a zombie company.

Mr Redwood’s intervention during the Adjournment debate on School Funding Formula (London), 28 June 2017

John Redwood (Wokingham) (Con): The right hon. Gentleman is making a very good point. Certainly in Wokingham, which has very low per-pupil amounts and good-performing schools, we feel there is a problem. Was not the idea of the reform to have a higher absolute amount for every pupil in the country, because there is a basic cost wherever you are being educated?

Sir Vince Cable (Twickenham) (Lib Dem): Yes, indeed. The right hon. Gentleman makes the important point that it is not a question of just having a basic amount of funding, but we need an evidence base for what the cost of running a school actually is. I worry that as the formula is currently devised, there is no evidence base. Wild guesses have been made about the differential costs of secondary and primary schooling, and we need objective studies of what it costs to run a school, so that the formula can work well.

Poverty report exposes SNP’s neglect of colleges

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Poverty report exposes SNP’s neglect of colleges

3 Jul 2017

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The SNP’s attitude to college education has been criticised in a comprehensive report about poverty in Scotland.

Poverty and inequality adviser Naomi Eisenstadt produced the document examining the causes and impact of deprivation north of the border.

It said the “social class gradient is deeply worrying” and life outcomes are too heavily based on the wealth and social class of someone’s parents.

She also said the colleges had been over-exposed to funding cuts, adding:

“The overall picture suggests that the university sector has had greater protection from hard financial times than the further education and the college sector.”

The Scottish Conservatives have repeatedly attacked the SNP’s record on colleges.

Last month, it emerged the number of people studying at college in Scotland had fallen to a decade low, while the number of part-time students had dropped by 18 per cent.

Scottish Conservative equalities spokeswoman Annie Wells said:

“Education is such a key route in getting people out of a cycle of poverty.

“Yet now we see that SNP policies on free tuition are actually hindering that for many.

“They have led to colleges getting squeezed, even though they are so vital in delivering people the skills and education they need to make a difference for them and their families.

“This is why the Scottish Government must face up to the reality of its universal free tuition, and realise the damage it is doing to those who need help the most.

“The report also makes it abundantly clear that the gap between rich and poor in Scotland remains far too wide.

“This is the cost of having an SNP government which has completely ignored the needs of those who are worst-off in pursuit of its own constitutional goals.

“It’s more apparent in Nicola Sturgeon’s constituency than anywhere else in Scotland just how desperate life can be in our deprived areas.

“These findings should be a wake-up call for a complacent Scottish Government.”

To see the full report, visit: http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0052/00522051.pdf

News story: Defence research and exports support UK jobs

Mrs Baldwin visited Yeovil today to mark a year of the innovative Strategic Partnering Arrangement between Leonardo Helicopters and the MOD. The Arrangement was signed in July 2016 and lays out shared commitments to cost effectiveness, jobs, and exports, recognising the key role both parties play in building national prosperity through exports, sustaining employment and specialist skills, and supporting small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the supply chain.

Over the course of a year, the MOD has placed millions of pounds worth of contracts with Leonardo, supporting hundreds of jobs, boosting exports, and driving technological innovation. In January 2017 the MOD signed a £271 million five-year deal with Leonardo to support the UK’s world-leading Wildcat helicopters, safeguarding hundreds of UK jobs.

Most recently, in June 2017, the MOD announced a £260 million contract to supply the UK’s Armed Forces with the next generation of secure Identify Friend or Foe technology. The work will sustain around 150 jobs at Leonardo’s sites in Luton, the West of England, Edinburgh and across the wider UK supply chain.

Minister for Defence Procurement Harriett Baldwin added:

Our Strategic Partnering Arrangement with Leonardo is a fantastic example of the contribution that Defence makes to the UK economy: creating hundreds of jobs, attracting millions in investment, and boosting UK exports across the world.

Backed by our rising defence budget and strategic engagement on exports, we are determined to deliver the
high-wage, high-skills jobs of the future, making the UK one of the most competitive places in the world to innovate, build business and help deliver security.

During her visit, Mrs Baldwin was briefed on the progress being made on the second phase of a jointly-funded £8 million Rotary Wing Unmanned Air System (RWUAS) concept demonstrator; cross-Government efforts to support the export of the Wildcat AW159 and Merlin AW101 helicopters; and company plans for continuous improvement and to underpin design engineering capabilities that are vital to ensuring safety and airworthiness.

Leonardo Helicopters make a significant contribution to the economy in the South West and developing plans would see the site in Yeovil become the heart of an aerospace technology centre. The MOD anticipates spending some £3 billion with Leonardo Helicopters over the coming decade, with work on the future coordination of strategic exports between the UK Government and Italy being led by the Department for International Trade.