South Ulverston - flood meeting at the Coro last Monday

I have delayed writing about this as I was so disgusted with the outcome.

The 'officials' made a mockery of the purpose of the meeting by hardly offering any new information. Their presence, sitting there to provide explanations and field questions showed severe contempt for the public by avoiding giving any useful answers.

The politicians were for the most part absent.

The Mayor , Phil Lister tried to do a good job of chairing the meeting, ex-mayor Norman Bishop-Rowe helped proceedings by being friendly and carrying the mike to members of the public that wanted to speak. Only one Town Councillor, apart from Lister and Bishop-Rowe, - Jack Rice spoke up in concern for what had happened.

Despite the key SLDC Councillor Mark Wilson being present he offered nothing of note.

John Woodcock MP sent a representative who offered nice words and an offer of involvement- which remains to be seen.

Where were the other SLDC councillors, and why were the County Councillors totally absent?


Heather Shepherd, a representative form a National Flood Forum organisation whom had come to the meeting specially from the Midlands was very helpful giving advice on obtaining insurance.

David Myers a representative for a new South Ulverston Flood Action Group was a welcome breath of fresh air, presenting challenging facts.

In the end , the only way to obtain information as to the precise cause of the flooding in people's houses was for Dr Geoff Dellow to offer explanations and ask Mike Fell of the Environment Agency whether he agreed - he said the explanation that Was offered was quite probable.This was that because of the sandy soil in the area (similar to that to be found on the adjacent allotments)this allowed to water to travel underground through the soil as a result of the pressure from the lake behind the defense and up through cracks in peoples concrete floor.

Similarly Paul Whitby of United Utilities came totally ill equipped not knowing anything about the existence of the drains in the area. He in turn agreed with Dr Dellow that the surface water drain from South Ulverston to the sewage works by the sea was inadequate which was why the extremely high volumes of water coming from the town instead of taking water away from So Ulverston actually acted in reverse resulting in drain water actually coming out of downstairs toilets into people's houses.

Only trivial agreements were given to the public for the future.

SLDC said that the problem was highly complex and offered nothing more - they showed no sign of caring either. No undertaking was given to clear any of the 14 (out of 15) blocked drains in the area.

Looks like we can expect exactly the same if flooding occurs again in the next five years.

The new flood action group have certainly got thier work cut out.

Heather Shepherd of the Flood Forum commented afterwords that it was meetings like this that totally turned people off that democracy made anything better.

Why did the Mail reporter offer such a poor article in the paper?

Again a second flood meeting with what Officials and Councillors do best : respectively - avoid clear answers and taking on any commitment to sorting a problem out.

Why bother going?

Assessment of District and County Officers

This list depends of course on my contacts with them. Some have been brief.

Lets start of with an 'order of merit' which will be added to later.

The best first:

County

• Paul Martin - very good
  
• Debbie Binch
• Deborah Turner
  
• Sue Hodgson
  
• Peter Stybelski
• Jim Smith
• Dianne Whitehead
  
• Nick Raymond - abysmal
  

District

• Richard Hennah (Barrow) - superb
  
• Alistair McNeill
• Kate Kawson
• Carol Hogg
• Claire Wheatman
  
• Inge Booth
• Jayne Kendall
• David Sykes
  
• Dick Base
• Margaret Belk
• Merrill Tummey
• Richard Foster
• Simon Hughes - very poor