VIDEO: Environment Agency chief executive Sir James Bevan visits Boston

The Boston Barrier has made a bid for a Transport & Works Act order which will see the public have a period of six weeks to make representations to the Secretary of State who will then decide whether the scheme will be bought to a public inquiry.

During his visit Mr Bevan called the flood scheme ‘one of the biggest and best flood defence schemes’ which would provide protection for 15,000 properties across Boston.

He said the barrier will also bring economic benefits and investment in tourism, business and development.

Defending the placement of the scheme, he said a team of ‘highly qualified technical experts’ had done the modelling for it and that he was ‘confident of the skills being put in’.

He also said the partnership working between various authorities provided him with confidence.

The EA says the £100 million Boston Barrier is part of a phased approach to reduce the risk of tidal flooding to over approximately 14,300 properties in Boston over the next 100 years.

In the video above, Mr Bevan, the EA’s Boston Barrier manager Adam Robinson, Boston and Skegness MP Matt Warman and Lincolnshire County Councillor Colin Davie give their views of the barrier.