'We cannot entirely remove the risk of flooding'

Lindholme in Scotter was hit by flooding from the River Eau earlier in the week

A rise in extreme weather events means it is not possible to entirely remove the risk of flooding, a senior Environment Agency (EA) official has said.

Leigh Edlin, the EA's area director for Lincolnshire, was responding to criticism after more than 200 properties in the county were hit by flooding this week.

Some residents in Scotter, near Gainsborough, said they had been abandoned by the EA after being hit by flooding for a second time in two years.

Elsewhere, the agency came under fire after about 40 homes were flooded in Wyberton, on the outskirts of Boston, and some 20 properties in Belton Lane, Grantham, were affected.

In the wake of the flooding, Richard Tice, the Reform MP for Boston and Skegness, said there were "serious questions" to be asked.

"The Environment Agency is failing to dredge the rivers properly and the priorities of badgers and water voles on river banks are treated more seriously than the welfare of residents, households and businesses and that's completely unacceptable," Tice said.

But Mr Edlin refuted the MP's comments. He said: "We need to take account of the environment in everything we do, but we are very clear it's people and property first."

About 40 homes were flooded in Boston after the South Forty Foot Drain overtopped

Mr Edlin told BBC Look North that being repeatedly flooded was "devastating" and he had heard "heartbreaking stories" from members of the community.

The agency had invested more than £200m in flood prevention measures across the county over the past 10 years.

There was a 10-year plan in place to mitigate flood risk in Scotter, he added.

However, he argued it was not possible to legislate for the rise in the number of extreme weather events.

"We know this is happening more frequently and we cannot remove the risk of flooding," he said.

"I think we've got to learn to be more resilient to flooding – we need to learn to live with flood risk."

Councillor Colin Davie, executive councillor for the environment at Lincolnshire County Council, has called for more investment.

"In some areas, we understand that watercourses reached or even exceeded the levels they rose to during storms Babet and Henk," Davie said.

"Ultimately, there is no getting away from the fact that the amount of rainfall we've seen this week, falling on saturated ground, is going to cause issues in some places without serious extra investment from the government."

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