Lessons must be learnt from the summer of floods

Andrew Percy today demanded that lessons be learned from the summer of floods that has hit both the north and south of the country, and the cases of localised flooding that many communities on the Isle have experienced

Government Ministers in Whitehall are planning an inquiry into the floods; Andrew is calling for a number of areas of concern to be taken into account:

·Who’s in charge ?: There should be clearer lines of responsibility for preventing flooding and tackling flooding emergencies. Since 2000, there have been at least 25 reports on flooding: and yet no single Government Minister, Department or Agency in charge.
·Building on flood plains: The Government’s building plans and regional targets will mean even more high-density development on floodplains, many of which may be uninsurable or have exorbitant premiums. Such development should not take place unless the safety of both assets and homes can be guaranteed.
·Urban drainage and gully cleaning: “Cinderella” issues such as urban drainage must no longer be neglected. Pressures on town hall budgets in recent years have squeezed highways budgets, leading to cuts in gully cleaning and more localised flooding.
·Emergency funding review: There must be a complete review of the “Bellwin scheme”, a central fund which gives local authorities financial assistance in the aftermath of large-scale emergencies.
·Climate change matters: The Government should make an annual statement on climate change adaptation, which would include evaluation of flood defences.
·Single Number Response. Many residents were unsure as to who they should be calling to report flooding, the Council, Severn Trent, Drainage Boards or the Environment Agency. We need a single number for residents to report flooding issues.

Andrew said:
“Across the country, the emergency services and local authorities have done an immense amount of work in recent weeks to tackle the problems of flooding – from major floods to small-scale incidents. But with a changing climate, we need to learn the lessons.

“There should be clearer lines of responsibility for preventing flooding; we should ensure that drainage matters receive the attention they deserve, sewers and gullies must be better maintained. We must review Whitehall’s plans for reckless building on flood plains - that threaten to become the sink estates of tomorrow. There are few areas in the country where drainage is more important than on the Isle of Axholme and we must act now to prevent serious problems in the future.”

Delight at Bart's House Reprieve

Andrew Percy and the Belgravia Carers Group have welcomed a decision by the Humber Mental Health Trust to delay the possible closure of the Bartholomew House Unit in Goole by between 3-5 years.

The Trust recently went out to consultation on proposals to reduce the number of adult in-patient mental health units in East Yorkshire from 3 to 2 by closing either Barts House of the Buckrose Ward at Bridlington Hospital. The proposal was to increase the amount of care provided in the home and community which the Trust felt would reduce the need for in-patient care.

Andrew says, "The Trust has now met and has decided not to close either of the threatened units for between 3-5 years. Instead the Trust will wait until the East Riding of Yorkshire Primary Care Trust approve funding to set up intensive home treatment and a 24 hour crisis service. As a result both of the units are secure for the next 3-5 years. The Trust has also agreed to carry out a more extensive option appraisal before making further changes. I hope that these will include proposals that will produce a mix of in-patient care and more home treatment.

I am delighted that the Trust has listened to the concerns of local people, which in Goole resulted in 1000 people signing petitions calling for Bart's House to be saved.

The Trust has also very positively decided to develop current user and carer groups within each area to encourage involvement in future service developments and work with existing community transport providers and Trust voluntary services to put in place transport for visitors.

We are obviously deligthed that Barts House has received a reprive but it is important to remember that the battle for Barts could well resume in a few years time. In the meantime the carers and I will be fighting to ensure that the profile of Barts House remains as high as possible. I will be starting up a Friends of Barts House Group which I hope will help to not only keep Barts House in the public domain but also raise money for mental health services locally.



We thank the Trust for listening to local people and we should remember that they are in a very difficult financial position themselves. The Government needs to take mental health care more seriously and ensure that more funding is made available

Up to quite a lot politically at the moment, but I'm not going to say what on here. That could lead to a certain local politician writing lots of unsolicited letters to residents in a futile attempt to look active. Alas.

What I can report is that I attended a meeting of all the Parish Councillors in the Lower Aire region this week to discuss the Environment Agency's plan to increase flooding in our area. My colleagues on Airmyn Parish Council kindly suggested that I join the action group which has been established as a result of this meeting to fight this plan.

I am pleased to say that I have delivered thousands of petitions to residents this week myself which I hope will help to fight this proposal. Best of all I was able to speak with many residents when I was delivering, also got a few cups of tea when it started to rain.

Monday evening is the meeting of the Goole to Leeds Railway Action Group of which I am the Treasurer.

I met up with Sheila and her daughter Ellie on Friday to deliver our petitions calling for improved safety measures at Brigg primary School to the Council.

Sheila and other parents have been collecting signatures for some time and their efforts have been complemented by another petition which was started by myself and the three ward Councillors.

We have requested that the Council consider the petitions together and we hope that Councillors of all parties will support our requests.

This is one of those issue that should transcend party politics and our only concern should be the safety of local pupils. Fingers crossed!

I have just returned from an event with Shami Chakrabarti, Director of Liberty who was speaking about a number of issues surrounding civil liberties.

I have always had great sympathies with Liberty as an organisation and many of their aims, so it was a real pleasure to meet her. She made a powerful argument against many of the measures being proposed by this Government, which will presumably be supported by the unthinking mass of Labour MPs who inhabit the back benches. Fortunately, there are a few Labour MPs with some substance who do dare to stand up against their own Government's proposals and their voting records reflect that.

Shami was a real inspiration to hear and I just hope that her message gets through to the public. There was one quote I heard today from a great Tory of the past which goes something like this-

Those words of William Pitt the Younger really struck me and I feel they are as important now as they were when they were spoken. As a history teacher I spend hours every year answering the question, "Sir, why do we have to learn about old things." I think that a quote like that really shows us how an appreciation of history really can inform our activities today.

Anyways, enough of the depth I have parents from Brigg Primary School to call back!

It's been a tad busy of late so I have to apologise for failing to update my blog since the weekend.

Basically, I did the Broughton Show on Sunday which proved to be wetter than hoped for. In any event I picked up quite a few local issues and I have already spoken to a number of residents from as far away as Epworth who raised issues with me on the day.

Tonight I am off to a joint meeting that is taking place between Hook and Airmyn to discuss another important issue. It's not the same issue as the public meeting last week but it is important all the same.

Before that though, I am off to Burringham to talk to some residents about the traffic problems on High Street. Cllr Rob Waltham has been working on this issue for some time and we put a leaflet round a few days ago to give people the facts. I always find a leaflet is better than an unsolicitated letter sent on official letterhead from London!!!

Right, now I am caught up on my blog posts for the week, here is today in detail.

This morning I was in Epworth and then I went on to Airmyn to attend the village gala. Great event, spoke to lots of people and the field is just dry enough for the event to go ahead unaffected.

A resident came up to me to point out a silly letter in the paper this week from a Goole Labour Councillor basically attacking me for working in Hull and trying to suggest I have no right to speak on local matters.

Bless her, she was really quite angry as my house in Airmyn is just round the corner from her house and as I am on the Parish Council she knew it was just a load of Labour spin. I assured her that I was more than happy for them to keep obsessing about me and trying to spin. I will just get on with working hard for the local area. Besides, we all know who really writes the letters that appear in the paper ....

Update: After not speaking for two years our MP has now spoken in Parliament again. Just a shame he has taken a job running the Labour Party in London as their Deputy Chairman!

Thursday evening was spent at a public meeting in Hook which I had been invited to turn up to by Parish Councillors. Quite a lot of people turned up to the meeting which was about the Hook Park. I was surprised by how many people seemed to know who I was and a couple of them have asked me to help out with the campaign. It really was a very warm welcome by the residents and I even joined a few of them in the pub afterwards.