Cameron Government Dealing W. Floods After Nearly 25% Cuts In Environment Agency Staff
Whistleblowers within the under-fire Environment Agency have told the Guardian that frontline flood staff are being cut, despite pledges by its chairman that reducing the agency's emergency response was a "red line".
Weeks of savage weather have battered England and frontline EA staff have been working round the clock to ensure timely warnings, rapid responses and straining defences continue to defend over a million highly vulnerable properties. But deep government cuts to the EA budgets means it will have shed a quarter of its staff by October and senior insiders have told the Guardian that hundreds of staff, including those work with the fire and police services and those issuing flood warnings, are being cut.
"People need to be aware that some of the frontline staff are taking a big hit, particularly when we are facing some of the worst flooding ever seen in southern England," said one EA source. "So much for the hollow promises that the front line won't be affected." He said at the same time that frontline staff were being put onto 24/7 duty rotas, managers were being asked to cut staff by 13% across all regions of the country. "This salami slicing approach is entirely wrong," he said.
"This government is steadily dismantling the nation's ability to tackle flooding and prepare for climate change," said Friends of the Earth's Guy Shrubsole. "Blaming the Environment Agency for not doing enough while simultaneously slashing their staff is politics at its most cynical and short-sighted. These cuts will heap more misery on the thousands of households struggling to cope in weather-battered Britain."
EDIT
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/feb/10/floods-environment-agency-staff-cuts
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