London: Lord Smith was branded a coward on Friday for his handling of the Somerset floods.
Making his first trip to the disaster zone, the Environment Agency chief dodged angry locals and insisted he would not resign or apologise.
He stayed almost entirely on dry land, declining to visit the worst-hit village of Moorland due to “accessibility” problems.
However, David Cameron, who also visited the area on Friday, managed to reach a pumping station on the outskirts of the village.
Lord Smith, a former Labour minister, was described as a “little git” by a local MP as he dodged questions from residents.
They said the Environment Agency had abandoned residents because it was interested only in saving “birds and rabbits”. Its decision to stop dredging rivers has been blamed for worsening the situation in the Somerset Levels.
Lord Smith gave no prior details of his arrival to MPs, councillors and the press and reporters were not allowed to attend the meeting he held with residents at the Willows and Wetland Centre in Stoke St Gregory.
During the visit, which came a week after Environment Secretary Owen Paterson was heckled by local residents, Lord Smith refused to apologise or resign. “I have no intention of resigning because I’m very proud of the work the Environment Agency and its staff have been doing right round the country in the face of the most extreme weather,” he said.
But Somerset MP Ian Liddell-Grainger said: “I will tell him what I bloody well think of him — he should go, he should walk. I’m livid.
“This little git has never even been on the telephone to me. When I find out where he is, I will give it to him.
“He has not told the local MPs, the local council or the local press where he is going to be. He’s a coward.”
Liddell-Grainger said Lord Smith visited the area a year ago and “promised he would have this sorted within six months”. He added: “I’d love to get my hands on his throat. If I just have to stick his head down the loo and flush, I will.”
Furious residents heckled the peer, who is due to step down as chairman of the Environment Agency this summer, as he moved from area to area.
Jonah Tyro, whose son’s home in Moorland has been flooded, said: “That man at the top wants to get his act together and chuck the red tape out the window and get it sorted. We’re wasting money on all these reports...we’re trying to save the birds, we’re trying to save the badgers, we’re trying to save the rabbits, right, what we want to do is save our village.”
Jim Winkworth, a farmer and pub landlord, said he was “mad”| at Lord Smith’s refusal to apologise.
“We thought that’s the least he could do today and he’s not apologising or admitting any liability,” Winkworth said.
“He hasn’t come down here to apologise, which is what he should be here for. If you apologise it means you’re admitting you got it wrong, I made a mistake, I’m sorry, I messed up but he’s not fit to do that.”
Winkworth is a member of the Flooding on the Levels Action Group, which is fighting to get the rivers on the Levels dredged.
He accused Lord Smith of “letting everyone down” and added: “He is the man in charge with the answers and he should be giving us the answers and sadly he is the man who is giving us the answers that we do not think are correct.
“He is letting himself down, he is letting his organisation down and he is letting us down.”
Company director Liz Parris, 42, who was evacuated from her home in Moorland with her husband and two dogs, was waiting outside the meeting with Lord Smith.
She said: “From a personal level, people are very angry. People are angry, people are very cross with Lord Smith.
“The people who have farmed this area, lived in this area, managed this area for many, many years were calling before Christmas to turn on the pumps and drain water off the land.”
Farmer Jenny Winslade said locals “know how the area works” and said they warned the Environment Agency in December that this was going to happen.
“Nobody listened to us. We know how the water works. Just listen to the locals,” she said.
Lord Smith denied making the controversial comment that Britain may have to choose whether it wants to save “town or country” from future flooding. He insisted he had been misquoted.
The Prime Minister described what he saw in Somerset as “biblical scenes” and committed to dredging rivers as soon as the flood waters receded. He also pledged that the Government will do “everything that can be done” and insisted that enough money was available.
