Officials say they are still in the early stages of a study to look into the future use of a well-known washland.
The Environment Agency was last year given around £300,000 to come up with a vision for the future of Cowbit and Crowland Washes.
Last month, we reported that the washes are ‘under-utlised’ to unlock more water storage in the Fens 2100 report – which called for billions to be spent on updating our ageing flood defences.
The washes have protected the area for centuries but have been found recently to be shrinking and coming to the end of their operational life along with flooding for months after a bank of the River Welland collapsed during Storm Henk.
An Environment Agency spokesperson said “We are still very much at the early stages of scoping the Crowland and Cowbit Washes study and supporting stakeholder engagement. We are not therefore able to share a programme for completion.
“The Crowland and Cowbit Washes are designated as a flood storage reservoir. Any changes to its operation or frequency of flooding will be part of the study. We will continue to engage with all appropriate stakeholders as the study progresses”.
