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<p> </p><p>We have had frequent discussions with the Environment Agency over the last
few years about flood risk management, including the contribution and value of dredging,
in Somerset and across the country. We have also been kept up to date with Environment
Agency's plans for the Somerset Levels.</p><p>The Environment Agency will continue
to undertake dredging where it is shown to be a genuinely cost effective way of managing
flood risk, taking account of the other options available. In some areas, dredging
will be the most cost effective approach. In others, it would divert resources away
from other flood risk management activities which are far more beneficial to local
communities, such as maintaining pumps, sluice gates or raised embankments. The Environment
Agency will therefore continue to review the case for dredging area by area, given
its variable impact on reducing flood risk.</p><p> </p>
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