Directory of Lost Causes (By Quentin S. Crisp)

Floodscape

This evening I attended St Mary’s Church, Twickenham, to listen to a presentation given by Kim Wilkie and organised by the River Thames Society.

It’s been a long time since I’ve sat in church to hear someone speak, but on this occasion I was not listening to a priest. Kim Wilkie was introduced as a landscape architect, the meaning of which phrase soon became clear.

I had gone this evening because of a plain green flyer that came through the letter-box about a week ago, bearing the following words:

PREPARING FOR GLOBAL WARMING

THE THAMES FROM TEDDINGTON TO RICHMOND

The Environment Agency’s Plans for Flood Risk Management

FLOODSCAPE

Etc. etc.

Someone from the River Thames Society gave an introductory speech, and mention was made, appropriately enough, since the setting was a church and the theme was flood, of Noah. The difference between Noah and ourselves, however, is that Noah knew what he was going to have to deal with. We must work by guesswork.

I did not know this before but this was the very church in which Alexander Pope was buried. In fact, he was beneath Kim Wilkie’s feet as he gave his power point presentation.



There was an Apple computer and a projector screen. Alexander Pope, Mr. Wilkie told us, had termed this stretch of the Thames "London’s Arcadia". His presentation was to outline a plan to protect this stretch of river from the kind of flooding that can now be expected with climate change. That climate change is taking place, he said, is now unquestionable.

He showed us a number of ‘slides’ revealing much of the work that had already been done to restore the area to the beauty that it had known as London’s Arcadia. In truth, as he showed, the area has not been so badly spoilt by development. In fact, an act of Parliament passed in 1902 has protected the area from advertising hoardings, housing developments and so on. Much of the work he has already done here, as a landscape architect, has involved removing unsightly modern fences and so on. He showed us, too, Turner's view of the river from Richmond Hill, and a photograph of the modern view.




But for the future, the very shape of the river bank must be changed. Rather than erecting walls and barriers, which would only exacerbate the problem, it was shaping the river bank to smooth the flow of water and prevent it from building up in the wrong places, that was the most effective, the most aesthetic and the most economical way to tackle the problem.



This, in fact, he pointed out, was simply a reversion to the method that has been used in this area historically. This area is prone to flooding. The lane outside the church is called Flood Lane. There is a mark upon the stone wall of the church, too, showing how high the waters from the river rose in the 18th Century. To cope with these floods, people had made use of ‘flood plains’ around the river for centuries.

I found myself quite moved by the presentation, though not because of any conspicuous emotive language. Mr. Wilkie’s plans seemed elegant and practical. If they receive the necessary backing, the project may provide an example for similar projects across the Capital, and across Europe.

One thing that stayed with me was that someone seemed to care about the beauty of this area, and that caring in this way was not at odds with practicality. Beauty, practicality and economy can and should merge. Instead of building walls, we must work with the flow of the flood. The flood, after all, may come tomorrow. We cannot shut it out forever.