Shropshire Lib Dem Councillors have slammed Shropshire Council’s total lack of preparedness over the Christmas as the weather continues to worsen and water levels rise.
Heather said: “We have been here so many times before. The Council’s response in the Autumn of 2019 was disastrous. In the Worthen area of my ward, the B4386 was blocked by floodwater in several places. In the village itself, the stream burst its banks and threatened sheltered housing with flooding, whilst in the next road raw sewage backed up into gardens. I spent hours trying to get sandbags from Shropshire to stop floodwater and sewage getting into properties. I got nowhere.
“Since then we have had numerous spates of flooding and nothing seems to have changed. We now had a prolonged period of bad weather and the ground is waterlogged but the lack of provision is disturbing.”
Heather and Cllr Roger Evans, The Lib Dem Group Leader, have been trying for days to establish what resources are available and how the public and Councillors can access them. They have found:
https://www.shropshire.gov.uk/customer-services/how-to-contact-us/
Cllr Nigel Hartin, Shropshire Councillor for Clun and whose village shop had to close because of Council mismanagement of drainage in the spring, added: “The Council seems not to have learned from the widespread problems from the last flooding over the last few years. Climate change and extreme weather events are now happening here and the Council needs to take serious steps to address them.
“Putting sandbags in a few sites across the County and hoping for the best is clearly insufficient.”
Stop Press:
Heather added “Today we had snow – especially on the high ground – again there is no direct contact for gritting and snow plough help. Snow at White Gritt and above there was significant. Searching the website for emergency numbers is hopeless. Members of the public deserve better. They need a simple system which connects them to help and so do elected members!”