In relation to the River Lugg, if farmers really want to help avoid flooding they should remove some of their land drains and allow more marshland to develop which would stop the rain running straight down the drains into the rivers.
Also a wide strip of land on the edge of the river should be left to grow wild so that the vegetation can hold the banks together and catch surface run-off.
Marshland acts as a sponge filtering water and releasing it slowly into a river. It is also a wonderful and necessary habitat for all manner of wildlife.
It seems to me in this situation that the farmer’s excuses for damaging the banks of the River Lugg are based on lack of knowledge about what is really happening.
Much damage is caused to our farmland and rivers through ignorance.
Farmers need to be better educated about the environment that they are working in and have more incentive to protect it.
Potatoes are particularly damaging as the soil is not firmed.
Exposing the soil next to the river will increase the amount of silt going into the river, joining up with all the topsoil running off the potato fields which are probably irrigated from the river itself.
More marshland is the only way to solve these problems.
Julian Meredith
Byford
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