Time after time, UK governments have denied the dangers of climate change | Peter Hetherington

Some of the misery caused by the floods could have been prevented, had multiple warnings been heeded about how we use and protect our land

Two years ago, the south of England experienced its wettest period for almost 250 years as tidal surges battered East Anglia, threatening the country's most productive farmland. Flimsy silt and clay flood defences, at least 50 years old and fast deteriorating, proved no match for the forces of nature.

Although damaging sea water seeped into some of the nation's finest acres, disaster was avoided - just. "But we were inches away from something terrible," said a senior director of Norfolk county council as he viewed what seemed a pending catastrophe. We had been warned.

Continue reading...