Norman Baker MP Member of Parliament for Lewes constituency
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Norman Baker,
23 East Street,
Lewes,
East Sussex,
BN7 2LJ.
Tel: (01273) 480281.
Fax: (01273) 480287.
Email: info
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Local MP quizzes public accounts commission over controversial Cuckmere Valley plans
In an exchange in the House of Commons yesterday, local Lib Dem MP Norman Baker yesterday welcomed the National Audit Office investigations into the Environment Agency’s expenditure of nearly half a million pounds on controversial plans for flood prevention in the Cuckmere Valley.
Alan Williams MP, Chair of the Public Accounts Commission, confirmed that the National Audit Office has been involved in correspondence looking into the Environment Agency’s expenditure, planning and preparatory work in the Cuckmere Estuary, has interviewed a number of interested parties and hopes to publish its findings within the next few weeks.
A parliamentary question asked by the local MP earlier in the year revealed that the sum spent by the Environment Agency in advance of any definitive proposals or the public inquiry which Norman and local residents are calling for has already reached £440,000.
Commenting on this, Norman says:
"I am extremely concerned that the Environment Agency has already spent almost half a million pounds just on the proposals for this controversial project and I am glad that the National Audit Office is looking into the matter. What I find particularly concerning is that the Environment Agency has been allowed to go ahead and spend such a huge sum of money before they have even agreed to the public inquiry that their plans should result in.
"The Environment Agency will be all too aware by now that their plans to allow the Cuckmere Estuary to flood are hugely controversial in the local area, and that even expert opinion is split over the need and desirability of the project. This is why I have raised the matter of expenditure with the Chair of the Public Accounts Commission and why I look forward to hearing the outcome of the National Audit Office investigations shortly."