People from a wide range of backgrounds, with various levels of experience have joined us across all areas of our Flood Risk Management work. In their words, this is what they do and why they chose the Environment Agency to further their career.

Increasing sea storms. Heavier rainfall. Rising sea levels.

James Neal
Operations Delivery Technical Support Team Member

‘I joined the Environment Agency in January 2005 and since then time has passed very quickly. Initially, I started as an Operations Delivery Technical Support Team Member 2, which basically involves aiding the implementation of the Annual Maintenance Programme. However during the IFRM reorganisation in mid 2005 I applied for the position of Operations Delivery Technical Support Team Member 1, but unfortunately I was unsuccessful in securing this as a permanent post although I am currently on assignment to a Team Member 1 post as part of my development.

The Team Member 1 post that I am currently undertaking involves the preparation and implementation of the Annual Maintenance Programme. Most of which is recurring work such as manual waterway management, flap valve inspections, knotweed spraying as well as the machine works which include weed and silt removal, shoal management and flail mowing. The Programme also has to allow for one off jobs or schemes as well as any emergency works that are needed.

The jobs on the Programme have to be prioritised depending on the flood risk as well as timed to allow for the necessary plant to be available. For the machine jobs, consultation has to take place with Biodiversity who will then liaise with Fisheries and Environmental Management and if needed, The Countryside Council for Wales. Once this process has taken place, they will come back to us with any comments or restrictions they may have. These will then have to be built into the plan.

Once the plan has been agreed it can then be handed over to Operations Delivery to carry out along with any details or utility drawings that are required.

The job also involves being on a Field Duty Officer rota, which involves being on standby for one week at a time and being available to inspect any issues that may happen, as well as responding to flooding incidents should they occur.

In all, it is a very involved job, which requires a lot of teamwork, problem solving and organisational skills, not to mention a good memory to keep track of everything that is going on at any one time.

However busy the job gets, I still enjoy it, as everyone I work with or have had to approach within the Agency has been very helpful and easy to deal with. This has made my time so far very enjoyable.’