The Somerset Levels

I am a bit fed up with all the whining and whinging from the inhabitants of the Somerset Levels . Frankly it is  time they did some lateral thinking. For a start if you want to live in a house which is virtually at sea level why not build your house on stilts? It is not rocket science is it? Secondly let's be honest. The Somerset levels are just that - level - they are not -in short - a thing of great beauty or interest-  nor is the farmland of much value except, in the main, as grazing.

No the answer to the problems of the Somerset levels is not more dredging, drainage, pumping, and dykes but the opposite- flood it and keep it flooded. Imagine 30,000 acres of inland water. Forget the Norfolk Broads the Somerset levels could become a great holiday destination and revitalise the dormant economy of these parts. As for all those complaining house owners who whine about the fact that they are cut off - get a life and get a boat - and remember that waterside homes the World over always fetch a large premium. Make the levels into an inland sea and just watch property prices soar.

As for the cost it would - assuming compensation to farmers of around £5,000 per acre - be around about £150 million, chicken feed for an Agency which spent £31 million on establishing a bird sanctuary last year!