Isle of Wight Blame Rain On Climate Change
By Paul Homewood
h/t Patsy Lacey
At an Isle of Wight council (IWC) media briefing this afternoon, the Service Director for Waste Environment and Planning said the landslide that is taking place in Eastern Bonchurch is the largest she’s seen in more than 20 years.
Natasha Dix explained that the areas sits on the largest urban landslide complex in Northern Europe and that the levels of rainfall we have seen in the last few months are the greatest since recording began in the 1940s.
The Bonchurch landslide is a result of heavy rainfall in the summer, and given the heavy rainfall in October and November, Natasha warned that more landslides could take place over the coming months.
Stay away from landslide
Colin Rowlands, Director of Neighbourhoods at IWC reiterated that the situation is very dangerous and that the main message to Islanders is to stay away from the site.
All footpaths through the Landslip have been closed. .
Councillor Michael Lilley, IW Councillor for Ryde Appley and Elmfield has today written to the Leader of Isle of Wight council, sharing his concerns about the cumulative effect of the excessive rainfall on the east coast of the Island.
He believes the IWC need to call a real ‘Climate and Environment Emergency’ and reconfirms his recent call for a moratorium of all developments a half-a-mile from the coastline.
Dear Councillor Jordan,
I am urgently writing to you as I am really worried about the lives and well-being of residents on the East Coastline from Wootton to Ventnor which make up the new parliamentary constituency of East Wight.
The recent sad events in Bonchurch with huge landslips added to the recent floods in Ryde and other parts of the Island, paint a sad picture of Climate Change reality.
Climate Change and extreme weather conditions alongside the complex geology of the Island need to be urgently reviewed. Our unique geology cannot withstand the level of rain we are experiencing.
It has been stated in local news outlets that “Officials are concerned that over the coming weeks, further problems could arise on the Island as it takes around 2-4 months for water to seep through the ground. This means it is likely we are now seeing the result of August’s unseasonably wet weather which saw around 110mm of rainfall recorded in that month”
In September there was 64mm, in October a massive 250mm and November 200mm, suggesting the risk of further landslides and other environmental realities in 2024.
From March 2022 to March 2023 there were 16787 hours when sewage was discharged by Southern Water into our waters. In October and November there was a single duration event lasting 681 hours at Sandown. The environmental combination of surface rainfall and sewage releases is getting so regular and significant that you cannot describe this other than an environmental crisis and emergency.
This is all evidence that we are experiencing an Island environmental Climate Change emergency and that the Island’s fragile coastline whether on land or in the marine zone cannot cope with this level of rainfall. It appears that this is continuing well into December. IW Council has an existing crisis of housing families/residents in crisis and Bonchurch landslip will add to this.
There needs to urgently to be a moratorium of all developments and a total rethink of coastal and environmental protection particularly on the East Coast which is the more densely populated than the West.
There needs to be an urgent Island environmental risk assessment and all development, a half-mile from the coastland should be postponed and all planning permissions and applications put on hold. We cannot think about developments in anyway whilst residents lives and well-being are at risk due to the reality of the rain levels we are experiencing.
These are not 100 year events (both quoted for landslips in Bonchurch and recent floods in Ryde) but the reality of what we are going to expect.
I wish to reconfirm my recent call for a moratorium of all developments a half-a-mile from the coastline.
Yours sincerely,
Councillor Michael Lilley
Climate change?
There is no evidence whatsoever that this autumn’s rainfall has been unprecedented. The nearest station which the Met Office publish data for is Hurn, across the Solent near Bournemouth.
This autumn has seen 476mm of rain, similar to the amounts recorded at Ryde. There have been other years with similar totals since the start of records in 1957; autumn 1960 saw 562mm, and October to December period in the previous year had almost as much rainfall, 403mm.
https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/climate/maps-and-data/historic-station-data
And there is certainly no evidence that monthly rainfall is becoming more extreme. By far the wettest month was October 1960:
Maybe Councillor Lilley should apologise about making false claims.
Comments are closed.
NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT 
Klymutt sheyngsh, the global excuse for local government incompetence
Poor old Councillor Lilley has not lived on the planet long enough to realise that these things are quite normal. This does seem to be a problem with folk who are under forty years of age and in responsible positions. I’m sure there must be an answer but in the meantime we could suggest that they consult their parents and grandparents.
Well Councillor Lilley is a Lib Dem, so you wouldn’t expect any better from him.
They have been primed, liked Bronze Age Greeks or Egyptians to see bad events as the judgement of the gods. Or like medieval peasants told to see God’s wrath in every flood and drought. For a 150 years or so we got beyond it but now we are back to superstition and weather gods.
Repeat after me: “It’s a Generational thing”, “It’s a Generational thing”, “It’s a Generational thing”, “It’s a Generational thing”, “It’s a Generational thing”,
That ‘s the trouble with this Mob/ Cohorts, whatever term THEY use nowadays: under forty years of age and in responsible positions You also see this attitude in Vehicle designs … ‘because they can’ – NOT because it is really needed.
I remember going on holiday to the IoW about 60 years ago. Landlips near Ventnor and on the south west coast around Alum Chine we’re a fact of life then – little boys do have a fascination with these things.
Ditto – 40 years’ ago.
Thus Councillor needs to understand the difference between weather and climate.
Simple answer, build more windmills and stop global warming, which in turn stop more rain, which causes the slipping of the land down to the sea.
Easy . .
Interesting report in the Telegraph that suggests COP28 is going pear-shaped.
No support from India or China for phasing out fossil fuels and the hosts saying there’s no need to anyway or words (very close) to that effect.
Fun!
And following on from that Alison Pearson’s Telegraph article is well worth a read!!
It is somewhat surprising the island is still there:
During the Pleistocene glacial periods, sea levels were lower, and the present-day Solent was part of the valley of the Solent River. The river flowed eastward from Dorset, following the course of the modern Solent strait, before traveling south and southwest towards the major Channel River system. At these times, extensive gravel terraces associated with the Solent River and the forerunners of the island’s modern rivers were deposited. During warmer inter-glacial periods, silts, beach gravels, clays, and muds of marine and estuarine origin were deposited due to higher sea levels, similar to those experienced today. [Wiki]
Not just the Isle of Wight – the Daily Mail says climate change is putting the Nazca Lines (ca 2,000+ years old) at risk…
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/galleries/article-12849971/The-three-archaeological-mysteries-soon-solved-AI.html
(second from last paragraph)
No doubt from rising sea levels
The sea level has risen in the Andes very dramatically – or rather the former seabed is now at 10,000ft to judge from the fossils to be found there, such as this one, which I have visited.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/museo-el-fosil
The ground on the island mostly consists of chalk and clay. With soft cliffs, the slide is no surprise. It has happen before and will happen again.
Interesting info at Wikipedia (my emphasis):
“The island has three principal rivers. The River Medina flows north into the Solent, the Eastern Yar flows roughly northeast to Bembridge Harbour and the Western Yar flows the short distance from Freshwater Bay to a relatively large estuary at Yarmouth. Without human intervention the sea might well have split the island into three: at the west end where a bank of pebbles separates Freshwater Bay from the marshy backwaters of the Western Yar east of Freshwater and at the east end where a thin strip of land separates Sandown Bay from the marshy Eastern Yar basin.“
Councillor Lilley’s head would probably explode if one was to point out that cliffs are the result of erosion,just some erode faster than others.
Follow the money (as ever) Councillor Lilley declares his interests as a Director of Wight Community Energy. https://iowcommunityenergy.org/about-us/directors-staff/
So there is probably no chance, possibly, whatsoever, not ever, that he might just be somewhat personally motivated in his “opinions” Of course there must be a climate emergency.
BBC news earlier mentioned “record rainfall”
Landslides at a place called Bonchurch Landslip? That can’t be right.
Councillor Lilley clearly has a sadly short memory. 2014 was a good deal wetter than 2023, with a couple of spectacularly wet months. Groundwater flooding was rife all across the Hampshire chalklands that year – there is no equivalent this year. That is clearly shown in the rainfall graphs you have in the posting. Those graphs show that even 2014 is not the record – there are earlier years with even more of the wet stuff.
Not only are almost all councillors and politicians completely dumb on the subject of global climate systems, but its also a complete no-brainer for any authority to blame absolutely anything that they can get away with on climate change because they think they are in for a chance of reparation payments. That’s what is driving every country and every authority globally.
The complete lie that global climate systems are driven by fossil fuels.
Any climate scientist or physicist knows that paying taxes to politicians does not give them any control over global climate systems at will and to a predesign of their own choosing. The whole thing is preposterous and a pack of lies.
Its shocking that so many adults can be exploited and manipulated so easily and the widespread state abuse of the minds of innocent children is disgusting.
Hitler corrupted the minds of children in the same way with lies and misinformation.