THE Environment Agency has distanced itself from repeated experiences of flooding in the Mar Dyke Valley and the Bulphan area which have occurred with increasing regularity over recent years.

Residents and business adjacent to the river, which has small tributaries across the borough before joining the Thames at Purfleet, say their lives have become subject to flooding above and beyond what had become the norm over decades.

They have pointed a finger of blame at a cost-saving failure to dredge and maintain the river, failures of the Purfleet sluice gates and the impact of increased industrial and housing development all along the river's course.

Among those worst affected is the stables business at North Stifford, run by the White family, which has seen repeated flooding of its enclosures and stables, with horses having to be kept in crowded and damp conditions that now threaten the site's viability.

Tracy White says that a failure to open the sluice gates in a co-ordinated manner is a part cause of the problem. And also says that the lack of dredging, which used to happen on a regular basis, is having a profound effect on the water course.

Those beliefs have been challenged by the Environment Agency which told Nub News: "The Mar Dyke sluice is operational and effectively discharging water during the low tide period as usual.

"This is an active floodplain that is expected to get wet when there is heavier rainfall than normal, however conditions are perfectly normal for this time of year.

 "We have installed webcams in the area for ongoing monitoring and can confirm that no incident reports have been received from the catchment area in the past week."

"Based on our flood modelling, dredging would have minimal impact on reducing flooding in the Mar Dyke catchment and would require regular maintenance due to the rapid build-up of silt, particularly in flatter, slower-flowing sections.

"We kindly advise members of the public to report incidents to our 24-hour incident hotline on 0800 807060."

That response has been mocked by Tracy White from White Stables who says there have been many reports and calls for action. She believes the reality between 'flood modelling' and reality is enormous.

A lack of dredging is blamed for upstream flooding by residents.

She says: "We believe it is related to the floodgates and the lack of dredging.

"How can they say there are no issues? It never used to be like this. The river badly needs dredging, it hasn't been done in years. It needs it badly. You only have to walk along it and see how clogged up it is.

"We never used to get flooded like this.

"It's a joke and it's happening so often now we will end up having to close."