The state of Low Mill Bridge one month later.
North Londsdale Road a week ago.
Ulverston Town Council should be complimented for the potential that this meeting had. The number of people on the panel was impressive, however the way the meeting was run, was very disappointing to say the least (the word "pathetic" comes to mind).
A carefully posed picture from the Evening Mail of Norman Bishop-Rowe looking "presidential". Something he is good at!
Even the press who had turned up were not allowed to film or record during the meeting at the whim of the chairman, Norman Bishop-Rowe (the people present weren't given the opportunity to give their approval). Here was an opportunity to put pressure on both the County and District Councils by clearly defining what had happened and by proposing and adopting a plan of action for the future.This did not happen. Instead the politicians played at party politics in front of their desperate audience. No wonder the people in South Ulverston get ignored.
Mayor Bishop-Rowe was clearly enjoying being centre stage and the meeting started straight off in a disorganised way with random questions from the floor. The experts were allowed to give vague answers so that clarity was avoided.
This enabled the people on the panel to duck and dive - it was impossible to ascertain exactly what had happened and who's responsibility the disaster was. Subsidiary issues were dragged in as red herrings that confused everyone. To secure the limelight hypocritical councillors (Colin Hodgson) criticised the SLDC cabinet who are both Kendal and Liberal Democrats over past planning decisions he himself and his Ulverston Conservative colleagues had previously recommended. They failed to focus on the important issues of how to deal with the future.
The focus of the meeting was diverted away from what exactly caused the flooding to the red herrings that swam around merrily : notably why the drains were blocked and why planning permission was being given to future development of land adjacent to Kennedy St.
Neither of these two issues could be described as the cause of the flooding though some would argue that the blocked drains aggravated the removal of flood water and further building could lead to greater surface rainwater to be disposed of.
What would have been helpful at the start was to clarify as clearly as possible what exactly had caused the flooding of people's houses. Because the experts were never asked to explain this in logical steps then confusion and buck-passing was rife.
Two sources of large quantities of water were obvious:
1. That flowing down Dragley Beck which then burst its banks in a similar way to that described in the video above of flooding in September 2008.
2. The large volume of water flowing down the town sewer from the town to the sewage works beyond Glaxo, which flows along North Lonsdale Road.
A lot of the focus was put on the drains whereas problems arising from the flooding from Dragley Beck, the performance of the sewer and the unfit drainage of surrounding land were only touched upon.
Some questioners from the floor were totally ignored until the last minute. One prominent member in the audience had his hand up for three quarters of an hour before being allowed to speak. By then there was only five minutes of the meeting left so that there wasn't enough time to raise anything but the most important question:
In view of global warming that leads to streams of air, heavily laden with moisture, travelling across the Atlantic and dumping rain on our West Coast. Is it not likely that whatever is done that houses in South Ulverston will get flooded again in 5 years time if nothing dramatic is done the counteract this effect?
Should not a scheme be set up that enabled South Ulverston Residents to be able to sell their houses to the local authority, should they want to, and assistance be given to the purchase of newly built housing being proposed for Ulverston in the future.
No answers were received other than the statement form the spokesman for the Environment Agency that yes this last question of how to deal with the long term effects of global warming was at the crux of the problem of flooding here.
The important issue of what action could be taken to minimise the effects of heavy rainfall where never dealt with.
Glyn Vaughan of the Environment Agency offered a potential way forward. He suggested two things:
One was the need for a review in six months of what had actually been done. There was helpful Government legislation awaiting the seal of approval which would make a big difference to ensuring that a solution is found.
The second was the need for people power that would be needed to drive a solution forward.
The people of South Ulverston will need a well organised and persistent approach if they are going to achieve answers. They also need to back anyone willing to support them: Mark Wilson, their district councillor and James Airey the new County Councillor for Ulverston West show promise. People need their politicians to make sure that something has been achieved in six months time.
There's a steep hill to climb.
People will have gone home dissatisfied feeling that they were given no explanations and that once again democracy had failed them : they were being swept out to sea with no rudder or driving force, not even a paddle, to help with a safe outcome.
Never-the-less the power of numbers can be effective. Finding effective representatives which they can all vote for with confidence at future elections will be important.
2 comments:
I think it odd that you assert as if it was undeniable fact that global warming is to blame for this problem. I don't see any evidence presented to back up that assertion. It may be an important factor or perhaps not. The point is that here in Ulverston we can't change global climate. What we can do is build and maintain fit for purpose drainage. They do that in other parts of the world why can't we do it here? Simple solution to the problem is bigger drains that are kept clear.
There are no "undeniable facts".
But Global Warming is generally accepted by the scientificat the source of increased rain fall in the Lakes.
If you were at this meeting you will remember that Glyn Vaughan (Environment Agency ) the top scientist on the subject present on the panel, agreed with me when I was allowed to ask the last question.
It is true that there are problems with the trains but the cause of the problem is the inability of 'the system' to cope with heavy and persistent rain.
Bigger drains will help but the main worry comes from Dragley Beck.
The cause of the flooding in people's houses was rain coming up through the floor. In the case that I was shown; through cracks in the concrete floor. This will have come from the high water table caused by the flooding from Dragley Beck.
It is sad that this was never discussed at the meeting because the panel were never given the opportunity to explain.
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