York Flood Inquiry verdict not expected until next year

Floods cost City £3.3 million

Floods cost City £3.3 million

It seems that over 12 months will have elapsed between the Boxing Day 2015 flooding crisis in York and the earliest date that changes to flood response practices in the City could be implemented.

The Council now says that its Executive will not consider the report of an independent floods inquiry until 26th January 2017.

The Inquiry was set up last Spring by the Council with a budget of £50,000. It was expected to deliver an early verdict on the performance of the authorities in dealing with the floods which devastated many parts of the City which lay near the Foss.

The performance of the Council itself on the 26th and 27th December was subject to criticism, with communications and relief work largely in the hands of the emergency services and volunteers on those days. There was no useful advice on the Councils web site at that time although information was updated later.

Nearly 12 months after the floods some businesses are only now reopening.

In the interim the Environment Agency have fitted powerful new pumps at the Foss Barrier while work to protect Leeman Road has been finished. Some local watercourses like the Tang Hall Beck have been cleared of debris by volunteers.

But large areas of the City remain vulnerable if a combination of melting snow and falling rain causes the Ouse to break its banks.

The York Disaster Fund – established to deal with emergencies of this nature – was also ineffective in the first week of the crisis and even now has only distributed around half of the £1.3 million raised by donations.

The Independent Inquiry has been taking evidence from the public over the last couple of months.

It’s membership – a Barrister and two water industry professionals – has been criticised for lacking local authority/emergency planning expertise.

So, what they will conclude is anyone’s guess.

However clearly when flooding does occur – as it will – the City needs to be quicker and more professional in its response

We can only hope that there are no major floods in the city before February at the earliest!

Concerned residents can find more information by clicking these links:

£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.