Gotham Flash Flooding Speech

GOTHAM FLASH FLOODING SPEECH –

COUNCILLOR ANDY BROWN

Thank you, Chairman. I support the amended motion, as accepted by my colleague, Councillor Richard Jackson.

Understandably, Richard has highlighted the flash flooding which occurred in his own area, but Members may also be aware from media reports of the severe flooding which affected Nottingham Road and Leake Road in Gotham in my division.

These events occurred over several days from 10th June through to 17th June, with some properties being hit several times:-

At least 26 houses suffered internal flooding, with water entering from the rear of the properties and seeping up through the floorboards;

There were reports of sewage and diesel contamination inside properties, and multiple electrical problems;

One elderly lady was injured as she tried to reset her consumer unit, which had tripped;

A householder on Leake Road with 6-month old baby has been told she can’t return home for six months;

Estimates of the damage to one particular house stand at around £80,000 and it looks likely that the total cost of damage to all properties in the village will be a high six figure sum, possibly into seven figures;

Two commercial premises were also flooded, including a bus depot; and

There were also two road accidents directly attributable to the conditions caused by these storms.

Chairman, it is easy for officials to claim that such events are due to freak weather conditions which are difficult to anticipate or prevent, but this is not the first time Gotham has been flooded. There have been several events in the past three-and-a-half years affecting domestic properties, albeit previously on a smaller scale.

The village is surrounded by hills and effectively sits in a bowl, so it will always be vulnerable to the dynamics of heavy rainfall, but this does NOT mean residents should accept regular flooding as inevitable. The geographical position of Gotham has not changed over the years, but the frequency of flooding has. Therefore, we need to investigate what has happened, or maybe what has NOT happened, which has led to this increase in flooding incidents.

You won’t be surprised that as the local County Councillor I received multiple telephone calls and emails from residents during and after the most recent floods, many of whom had traced the floodwater directly to blocked highway grates, blocked culverts and poorly maintained drainage ditches.

Heavy rainfall will always have poured from the hills onto the fields and roads near to these properties, but it seems now that the drainage systems are not fit to cope. Virtually every email I received referred to a drainage maintenance issue. I quote:-

“NCC staff attended Nottingham Road, Gotham during the day to clear a gully outside the Spar shop that had been contaminated with concrete during recent building works there”;

Quote: “The culvert under Leake Road was blocked, with just a trickle of water getting through”;

Quote: “When they built Gypsum Way they built a bank of soil at the beginning of the road but didn’t put a ditch in, so whereas water would have spread out all over the fields, it now gets channelled up Gypsum Way and flows down to the lowest point behind the houses”;

Quote: “The drains on Kegworth Road… are completely blocked and must have been for years, this will not be helping the floods lower down the hills”;

Quote: “The state of all the gullies in Gotham is a damned disgrace”.

Let me be clear. I am not suggesting for one moment that ALL of these drainage issues were the fault of this Council because, clearly, they were not. However, the County Council is the Lead Local Flood Authority and the Lead Emergency Planning Authority, so it is incumbent upon us, more than anyone, to identify where and why problems occurred, and who was responsible in each case. Where the fault was not ours, we should still do everything possible to ensure that whichever agency or landowner was responsible takes appropriate action.

I understand that a Section 19 investigation is already underway as a statutory response to these events, but there is no harm in supporting this motion, thereby confirming the Council’s commitment to investigate.

One resident sent me a timeline of the flooding events which affected their property, which included the following words:-

“Wednesday 15th June: Severn Trent arrived at 9.30am, had a look with cameras and concluded there was no issue with their drainage system. Luckily, the Nottinghamshire County Council Highways Department arrived while Severn Trent were here and they all accepted it was an NCC issue.”

The resident then states:“After 3 hours, I was told by a crew leader that the issue was the stream running through the Old Rectory. This is the only drainage in the area, but it was only running at 10-20% capacity due to the fact it had been silted up and was being blocked by oil from the bus depot. This had a knock-on effect on all of the surrounding drains which were also silted up. The NCC crew said it wasn’t their responsibility to clear the stream as it was on private land and we were informed that until the owner sorted the stream out they could not, or would not do anything. We were told it could take years to sort out.”

Members, that simply isn’t good enough. When you are facing the ground floor of your property being ruined by floodwater and you have reached out to Nottinghamshire County Council and other agencies for help, you do not need a group of officials standing on the doorstep telling you, “Nothing to do with us, guv!”

Whether a drainage problem is this Council’s responsibility or not, we are here to protect our residents, our taxpayers. We need to monitor all types of flood risk on an ongoing basis and act to address potential problems, even if that means pressuring other organisations and landowners to fulfil their responsibilities.

The Chairman of Gotham Parish Council copied me into an email which stated: “The response by the various services was disappointing, even non-existent, leaving many frustrated and angry.”

Chairman, my own experience was that emergency staff from the County Council and Rushcliffe Borough Council’s ‘Streetwise’ teams DID eventually swing into action with sandbags and other assistance. However, this was only after some residents encountered great difficulty getting through on the emergency telephone lines, and even more difficulty convincing telephone operatives of the severity of the situation.

I myself experienced difficulties getting through to the Nottinghamshire County Council helpline and was none too impressed by the response I eventually received. I have since been assured by a Senior Officer that all the correct procedures were followed, but he acknowledged that my call “could have been handled with more compassion” by the telephone advisor concerned.

Perhaps I should be grateful I did not encounter the much publicised response some residents received from Rushcliffe Borough Council’s helpline, where the advisor told them their addresses did not exist, and that, “The only Gotham on the system was Gotham City, New York”!

Sadly, Batman wasn’t available to help … and neither werethe Nottinghamshire Fire & Rescue Service. They received at least two calls for emergency assistance, but refused to attend because - I quote - “lives were not in danger” and “water was not endangering the electrical system”. They should tell that to the elderly lady I mentioned earlier!

A letter I received from the Area Manager for Notts Fire & Rescue states: “Despite many perceptions, the Fire & Rescue Service does not have a statutory duty with regard to flooding.”

Maybe not, but it would have been morally decent for a taxpayer-funded community emergency service to have dispatched an appliance to examine the situation first hand and see if there was anything they could do.

I’m sure British Gypsum don’t have a statutory duty with regard to flooding either, but to their credit, they turned up on site and used their own pumps to help remove water from the affected properties. I have been asked by the villagers to personally record our thanks to British Gypsum staff for their help.

Gotham Parish Council are currently conducting their own door-to-door survey in the affected area to establish the true extent of the damage, with villagers demanding, in due course, a meeting with Nottinghamshire County Council.

I am sure that such a meeting can only add to the information the County Council is collecting during the course of its investigation, and I would like the outcomes of this work to be reported back to Full Council at the earliest opportunity.

ALL Members have a vested interested in this because, unlike flooding from rivers, flash flooding can strike literally anywhere in the County, especially if drainage facilities are not properly prepared and maintained.

Thank you, Chairman. I support the motion.