Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
flood-prone Yorkshire towns had been withdrawn. Accordingly, very heavy
rains in 2007 caused serious flooding in the settlement. Several locals then
complained loudly that those who'd challenged the EA's recommendations
were ultimately responsible. If only the Agency had been listened to, they
argued, Pickering would almost certainly have been flood-free in 2007 and
beyond.
This, it seems, is a case of stalled 'tornado politics'. Pickering resi-
dents clearly wanted to eliminate flooding, as did the EA (though not
at any monetary cost because it must work within an annual budget).
A number of possible flood prevention options were identified by the
Agency, but one option was recommended twice at different points in
time. The recommendation didn't command widespread public assent in
Pickering and the chance to pay for a flood wall vanished; consequently
the town suffered another serious inundation. No one, it seems, bene-
fited from the failure to act on expert advice. How, then, was the impasse
dealt with?
The Pickering situation attracted the attention of a set of academic geogra-
phers funded by the Economic and Social Research Council. Their interest
was in how residents who had experienced floods first-hand could engage
with epistemic workers licensed to analyse and predict floods, and whose
representations of future hydrology underpinned EA policy recommen-
dations. Two of the five academics were flood modellers and, with eight
volunteer Pickering residents, they formed the Ryedale Flood Research
Group (RFRG) in 2007. The Group met several times over a nine-month
period, and its working methods were inclusive (non-hierarchical). It aimed
to interrogate the EA hydrological models by adding local knowledge of
flood events and exploring alternative policy options in light of stakeholder
preferences. The result was a computerised 'bund model' that represented
the flood prevention effects of mini-dams if they were built in select parts
of the upper Ryedale catchment. As with the one-dimensional models used
by the EA, the 'bund model' was calibrated using existing hydrological data.
The model was presented by way of a local public exhibition and a report,
which received local news coverage. It combined the authority of science,
courtesy of the two hydrological modellers, with the legitimacy conferred
by being the result of local stakeholder participation. Subsequently, it was
acted upon: central government money was expended on this 'demonstra-
tion project' and a multitude of state agencies co-operated in its delivery.
A representation of one possible hydrological future thus served to make
that future present by mobilising funds, materials and labour. The previous
impasse disappeared and a large degree of local consent formed around the
'bund solution'. The eight Pickering locals had deliberated together and also
with 'experts' in the RFRG. They'd found a way to rearticulate the 'public
interest' in and through a new specialised representation of flood risk and
prevention.
