The Environment Agency spent more than £800,000 hiring equipment to dredge swollen rivers after it sold off its own machines for just £230,000.

Campaigners believe if dredging had been done earlier some of the widespread damage caused by the worst flooding for 200 years could have been prevented. Concerns have also been raised about an “overall” lack of equipment and planning to protect homes from future flooding.

In the last year the Environment Agency spent £839,564 of taxpayers’ money hiring equipment on 141 occasions to clear and maintain waterways, a Freedom of Information request disclosed.

Reported by the Telegraph. You can read the full story here. 

Matthew Burgess
http://www.mattburgess.co
I am a journalist and author. I am a journalist at the UK edition of WIRED magazine. In 2015, my first book Freedom of Information: A Practical Guide for UK Journalists, was published. My second book Reed Hastings: Building Netflix, was published in March 2020. I created FOI Directory in 2012 and have maintained it in my spare time ever since.