Second Thames flood barrier planned

By Melissa Kite, Deputy Political Editor, Sunday Telegraph

Last Updated: 1:42am BST 26/08/2007

A new £20 billion Thames barrier to save London from a potentially disastrous flooding threat is the centrepiece of a series of measures planned by the Government.

	The existing Thames barrier was completed in 1983

Phil Woolas, the minister for climate change, told The Sunday Telegraph that a feasibility study into a second Thames barrier, potentially required within 25 years, was due to report in a matter of weeks.

In addition, new flood defences are being planned for all major police, fire and power stations and other vital infrastructure in a bid to avoid more disastrous flooding of the kind that hit Britain last month.

Mr Woolas said that during the floods, which caused up to £3 billion worth of damage, parts of Gloucestershire came within minutes of the biggest peacetime evacuation Britain has seen. It came after a crucial electricity sub-station was nearly destroyed.

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