Flooding in South Ulverston

It's good to hear that two councillors have got involved - Phil Lister and Mark Wilson.

I hope they take this problem on board once the emergency is over.

It will take someone with a bit of perseverance to get a result. Ideally it should be a county councillor. Sadly the previous Labour councillor did nothing other than give bland assurances with no substance.

My attempts to talk to the environment agency got nowhere as I lacked the authority to question them face to face.

The people of South Ulverston themselves could I believe do a lot more to make something happen but I got the feeling that they didn't want to get behind an 'interfering outsider' like myself with the petition that attracted many votes from the town centre.

I spent some time examining the problem and went down to help with blocked drains. Film showing previous flooding is on this blog - just press the label "flooding" below.

I went further than this and started actually clearing what I saw as one of the main contributing factors : the concrete blocks and substantial pitch pine beam that have been dumped over the edge of Low Mill Bridge at the Old Tannery. The result of my initial work rests on the Glaxo side of the bank. I suggested that the quickest solution was to go down and clear the river bed ourselves but sadly nothing happened along these lines.

I have a high regard for the people in South Ulverston but I have learnt that it is important to wait for them to take the initiative. I find it difficult not to be seen as an outsider by some people down there. They now have a Conservative County Councillor who lives in South Ulverston who is the person they must get involved and if this does not happen, they will have to make sure that someone ready to help is voted into office in the future. It is a hard lesson to learn but the only way to get satisfaction is to use the democratic system to get a representative that will fight there corner. Openly bragging that they had voted for no one because 'they are all corrupt bastards' gets them nowhere. Finding a candidate that is ready to put up a fight is the way forward. I hope they are going to be listened to in the coming talks at the Coro.

Meanwhile I have offered them all the help I can.

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