£1.3 million flood relief fund – payment details emerging

Four months after the devastating flooding which hit the City on 26th and 27th December 2015, details are only now emerging of how the £1.3 million York Disaster (Flood) Fund is being spent.

Two ridings reprt 18th April 2016

Click to access

Although most affected residents and businesses have now moved back into their flood hit properties, it appears that only £160,000 has been paid out to victims.

Most of the money – which includes matching funding from the government – has come from charitable trusts with the rest coming from corporate donations, individual gifts and fund raising.

The Fund’s administrators – the Two Ridings  Community Foundation – have now published a FAQ summary on their web site.

The posting (right) explains who can apply, for what, and also reveals that making vulnerable buildings watertight (more resilient) could qualify for grant aid (on top of the £5000 already announced by the Council) while damage to vehicles and outbuildings won’t be funded.

Application forms can be downloaded via this link http://www.trcf.org.uk/

Meanwhile the Council has still not revealed details of when its Inquiry into the flooding will start (or even who the members of the Inquiry team will be).

Clearly a report – and most importantly action arising from its conclusions – is still several months away.

The one piece of good news is that the Environment Agency have announced details of additional flood prevention work that they intend to do in the City over the next few years.

A meeting earlier in the week heard that extra investment would include:

  • £45m additional funding for work in York which will see around 15 schemes at different locations throughout York to upgrade raised defences and provide a consistent standard of protection for the City. This will better protect over 2,000 properties.
  • This is in addition to the £10m that has already been committed for repairs and upgrades to the Foss Barrier where work is planned to start in early April and be complete by December 2017.

£1/2 million floods bill to refurbish damaged York Council properties

The York Council is spending over £400,000 refurbishing Council houses, flats and amenity blocks.

Arial photo of York floodingThe works included stripping out of damaged fittings, skirting’s, doors, kitchen units, baths, flooring, non-licensed asbestos; preparatory works in advance of drying; installation of kitchens, bathrooms and flooring following drying.

The amenity blocks serve the James Street traveller site. The contractor, appointed in January, was Gentoo Tolent Ltd. The decision was marked as “key” but was kept secret by the Council for over 2 months.

Only around half of the expenditure will be covered by insurance

Separately a Leeds company – Trustheat Ltd – was appointed to undertake an accelerated programme of “drying works” to Council properties.

A Council report, written in February but only published last week, said, “an accelerated programme of drying to flooded council properties to facilitate the earliest return of residents to their homes, as after 6 weeks of using traditional methods of drying (dehumidifiers and fan heaters) flooded properties were still saturated, with implications for residents and future maintenance of the affected buildings. This process allowed for a 4-5-day drying period”.

Meanwhile residents, and those who donated to the York Flood (Disaster) Fund, are still waiting for an update on how their money has been spent. The last report was published in January. The Fund has £1.3 million available to help victims

3690 potentially contaminated land sites in York

A York Council report claims that there are 3690 potentially contaminated pieces of land in the City.

Top-secret-stamp-006The report goes on the record that there were 88 high priority sites requiring investigation with most scheduled to receive an assessment ahead of any development in the area.

However, it claims that 6 categories A sites have still not been inspected 16 years after legislation was introduced to deal with the issue.

13 sites were investigated (including those near Foxwood Lane/Gale Lane  and Westfield Place) but were not found to require attention.

There are currently no sites on the Councils contaminated land register.

While the detritus from three centuries of industrial activity in the City will lead to some residual issues, the risks do appear to be low.

Nevertheless, the Council should have revealed all 88″at risk” locations and, in particular, the 6 sites which still require an inspection.

More financial support available for people affected by floods

flood barrierYork residents and businesses are being reminded that they could receive up to £5,000 to support the resistance and resilience of their property as part of a national package of financial support available.

The Government is providing the funding to enable local authorities to provide grants of up to £5,000 to homeowners and businesses that have been flooded as a result of Storm Desmond and Storm Eva to help fund additional flood resilience or resistance measures for their properties.

The resilience grant will enable those who have been flooded to better prepare their homes for future flood events, both to prevent flood water from entering the property and to speed the recovery if it does.

People who think they may be eligible for a grant needs to register their interest by emailing: floodresiliencegrant@york.gov.uk or calling 01904 552300.

They will then be sent:

More information about the grants is available at www.york.gov.uk/FloodResilienceGrants

The update from the Two Ridings foundation, which is allocating the grants from  the York Flood Appeal, has still not appeared on their web site .

The organisation promised that it would be published earlier in the week.

 

York Floods Update – Disaster Fund says 100 grants handed over

Appeal now seeking £1,000,000

Appeal now paying out £200 per victim

The administrators of the £500,000 York (flood) Disaster Fund have moved to clarify how their funding is being used.

They are right to do so.

A couple of days ago the York Council claimed that only £18,000, of the £500,000 already raised, had actually found its way to victims.

The average pay-out was only £300.

Now the Two Ridings Community Foundation says that 100 grants have been issued.

416 homes together with 157 businesses were flooded in December.

According to the Foundation, the initial immediate support awards available for household’s subject to flooding, are:

  • All households affected by flooding will receive a £200 award
  • Any household in hardship can apply for a further award of £500 to cover replacement of essential items, excess fuel bills and other costs associated with their homes being flooded
  • After that, any household can apply for further needs but it will be assessed on a case by case basis

A second phase of grants is planned.

The Foundation says, “We will make available individual grants for households whose income has been affected over a long term period and households who have continued to experience increased household expense due to relocation resulting from the flood”.

Who can apply?
  • Individuals or families whose properties and contents have been damaged by flooding or who are suffering other hardship as a result of the flooding.
  • “We would not normally fund businesses but we may consider small business owners or employees facing hardship due to lost work or income because of storm or flood. The fund is not designed to replace income but we may be able to consider cases of hardship”.
  • Voluntary and community groups, charities and other not for profit organisations that may have experienced loss due to flooding or may be experiencing an increase in demand for services as a result of providing support to individuals affected.

Applications can be made online via www.trcf.org.uk or www.yorkdisasterfund.org.uk

The Foundation is promising to provide an update  report early next week on how the Fund is being used.
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Floods update – last minute report considered by Council’s Executive

"Your on your own!"

“You’r on your own!”

It appears that the Council’s senior Councillors were finally shamed into receiving a report on the recent flooding at their meeting today.

The report (which can be read by clicking here) was delayed to the point where it would be virtually impossible for any resident to know about it before the meeting started.

Much less chance that anyone would have the opportunity to register to speak on the item.

The report seeks only to approve the terms of reference of the promised “Inquiry”.

The Inquiry could take over 6 months to complete so the hope and expectation had been that the Councils own responsibilities – including communications and recovery operations – would by now have been subject to an internal review.

It appears not.

Floods update – Environment Agency publishes key Foss river level graph

What really happened

The Environment Agency has published the most comprehensive information of how river levels on the Foss rose during the evening of the 26th December.
Click to access

Click to access

 

 

The information is likely to form a key consideration when the independent inquiry finally gets underway.

The Agency has yet to provide a convincing explanation of why some of its river level gauges failed – even before the telecoms outage occurred. 

York Council admits only about 274 residents of flooded homes have received £500 cash help so far

£1 million Floods Disaster Fund pays out only £18,900 to 46 applicants

flooding in YorkThe York Council has released details of what it claims are the compensation and recovery payments it has made to the victims of the recent flooding.

The Council fails to say how many claims are in the pipeline or explain why some residents – who are apparently entitled to the £500 emergency payment – have still not received any compensation.

The Council has still not moved to clear the confusion about whether one of the most significant events in the City’s recent history will actually be discussed by senior Councillors at their Executive meeting on Thursday. The issue has not so far been added the meeting agenda

The Councils figures,

Financial support paid:
• £137,000 recovery grant paid to 274 residents (with a one-off payment of £500)
• Council Tax exemptions totalling £118,200 for 351 properties directly affected by flooding
• York’s Disaster Fund has paid out £18,900 to all 46 applicants
• Business Rates exemptions totalling £600,000 for 115 businesses directly affected by flooding
• £78,500 resilience grants paid to 38 eligible businesses.

Financial support still available:
For residents:
• York residents whose homes have been internally flooded are entitled to a £500 one-off payment via City of York Council to help support the clean-up process from Government grants.
• Residents whose homes have been flooded internally are entitled to a Council Tax exemption from 27 December 2015-31 March 2016 as a minimum. Extensions may apply where residents cannot return to their property beyond that time.
• Affected York residents on low incomes and who are not adequately insured may be eligible for help from York Disaster Fund, administered by the Two Ridings Community Foundation (TRCF) charity. TRCF launched the York Flood Appeal to increase donations to the fund.

For businesses:
• The new Business Flood Recovery Fund is expected to be in place this week with grants of between £5,000 and £100,000 available. Call 0113 348 1818 or email businessgrowth@the-lep.com to find out more.
• Up to £2,500 is available for businesses affected by the floods through the Flood Recovery Fund for businesses. Email business@makeityork.com or phone 01904 554455to make a claim.
• Businesses which were flooded can apply for an exemption to their Business Rates. Please contact the business rates team at business.rates@york.gov.uk or phone 01904 551140
• Up to £5,000 in Future Flood Prevention Funds is available for commercial property owners/people responsible for maintaining the fabric of a property that has been flooded to help prevent future flood damage. To apply, email business@makeityork.com or call 01904 554455.

For more information, please go to www.york.gov.uk/flood

NB. The Councils “Goose Management Scrutiny Review Task Group” will however be meeting tomorrow. It is unclear whether any “loss of habitat” claims have been submitted by flood affected geese.

York Flood update – Environment Agency announces dates of meetings with victims

flooding in YorkThe Environment Agency has announced a series of drop-in meetings in York for next month to help people learn more about flooding.

Rather than hosting a large, public meeting, the idea is that smaller, “one-on-one” sessions will allow people to ask bespoke questions about how the city manages rising waters.

Experts will be on hand to answer ANY questions, including why the controversial decision was taken to raise the Foss Barrier during the Boxing Day floods.

Details of meetings:

  • 2nd February, 3 to 8 PM at Southlands Methodist Church, Bishopthorpe Road, York YO23 1NX.
  • 4th February, 3 to 6:30 PM at New Earswick Folk Hall, Hawthorn Terrace, York, YO32 4AQ
  • 8th February, 3 to 7:30 PM at St Aelred’s Community Centre, 216 Fifth Ave, York, YO31 0PN.
  • 9th February, 3 to 8 PM at National Centre for Early Music, St Margaret’s Church, Walmgate, York, YO1 9TL.
  • 10th February, 3 to 8 PM at York Saint John University, Lord Mayor’s Walk, York, YO31 7EX.
We can only hope that the Agency has learned a few communications lessons.
They should invite written questions and make sure that the answers are published “on line” before any meetings take place.
Time at the meetings can then be concentrated on dealing with follow up questions and matters of outstanding concern.

Car park charges set to be frozen in York

 Castle Car Park ()Car park charges look set to be frozen across York to “help local businesses bounce back after the Boxing Day floods”.

Leaders of the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Executive have announced plans to freeze charges in council-run car parks as part of next month’s 2016/17 Budget.

This means prices will be unchanged for the next 12 months at car parks including Castle, Foss Bank, Marygate, Monk Bar, Piccadilly, and St George’s Field.

Recent trends under Labour - click to enlarge

Recent trends under Labour – click to enlarge

The freeze will be  the first since the Council was led by the LibDems in the period up to 2011.

Car parking charges were held in check by that administration for a record seven years.

When Labour came to power, they introduced large increases. Over their four years in office, some charges nearly doubled.

In the end, the law of diminishing returns meant that the Councils parking income actually fell.

Although the freeze is likely to be generally welcomed, it fails to address immediate concerns.

We suggested a few days ago that the Council should reduce the charges at its Foss Bank “shoppers” car park at least until the end of March. 

Unfortunately this idea has not been followed up.

Instead the City of York Council has confirmed that it will contribute £50,000 to a new UK-wide campaign to promote York. Tourism bosses in the city say this will be their biggest ever marketing campaign as work continues to promote York following the floods.
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