Residents in the south of the Borough finally had the opportunity to meet with the Multi-Agency Flood Team today at the Civic Hall in Nantwich.
Nearly 100 residents, ward, parish and town councillors took the opportunity to meet with officers from CEC Highways, Flood Resilience, the Environment Agency and United Utilities.
Cllr Peter Groves (Nantwich South) and Cllr Philip Staley (Nantwich Town Council) sought answers to flood incidents in Batherton and Stapeley where homes were inundated last October, whilst Cllr Janet Clowes (Wybunbury) submitted reports on 12 flood incidents/sites where homes were flooded and some lanes are still under water.
Cllr Groves explained “the last few months have been devastating for some of our residents and a few will be unable to return to their homes until later this year. There have been a number of reasons for this, some of which we realise formal agencies cannot deal with directly but are the responsibility of the landowner. It’s been a steep ‘learning curve’ for some and we must ensure that support and advice is available where needed as well as ensuring that where the Council and other formal agencies have responsibilities, these too are met”.
Cllr Janet Clowes added; “Riparian Rights and Responsibilities’ legislation is complex and it is becoming clearer that home and landowners have very clear responsibility for the drains, culverts, brooks, ditches and gullies crossing their properties. These must be maintained and preserved as they serve a very real purpose to combat flooding that perhaps we haven’t really appreciated before. The encouraging aspect of today’s drop-in session was that there is guidance and advice is available.”
”Of course this is only one of the causes of local flooding that was being discussed today. Poor maintenance of road drainage and gully infrastructure has been another significant factor that has exacerbated recent experiences.”
Over the course of the session it was clear that Officers from all Agencies have been working extremely hard to prioritise and address the effects of the floods and to identify sustainable solutions to reduce the risk of recurrences. At the same time they have had to re-schedule routine work and to try and keep up with ‘business as usual’ - which in the busiest season of the year has been extraordinarily hard.
Those who attended today welcomed the opportunity to meet the team and start the process of sorting out their flood-related problems, However it was noted and some commented that it was regrettable, that at this first Multi-Agency meeting, no members of the Cheshire East Coalition Cabinet were present to offer assurances to residents.
Photos: (1) Flooding in South Cheshire (2019) (2) Cllr Peter Groves and Cllr Philip Staley (3) Cllr Janet Clowes and Cllr Trevor Lightfoot
