York flooding update
Five year action plan to reduce flood risk in York
Residents get only one weeks notice of new exhibition
The Environment Agency has announced a new five-year action plan to better protect the City of York against flooding. It provides more details of how physical flood barriers will be improved following the announcement last March of a £45 million budget for the work
The Environment Agency’s plans emerged only today – just one week before a two-day exhibition of the proposals takes place.
The plans have not been published “on line” yet
The exhibition will take place at Hotel 53 in Piccadilly, York, between 12 and 7pm on Friday November 25 and from 10am until 5pm on Saturday November 26.
No implementation timetable for the improvements has been released but it could be a decade before all work has been completed.
Sources at the York Council criticised the Agency for failing to agree a coordinated communications plan for the proposals which sets out options to reduce the risk of flooding to 2,000 properties across 10 York communities.
The schemes would affect
- Clifton/Rawcliffe
- Holgate Beck
- Poppleton
- Foss
- City Centre
- Osbaldwick & Tang Hall Beck
- Clementhorpe
- Fulford and Germany beck
- Bishopthorpe
- Naburn and Acaster Malbis
The plan looks at a range of potential flood reduction measures including the creation of storage areas, increasing pumping capacity, raising and building new walls, raising land and building embankments.
Following the devastating floods of Boxing Day 2015 which affected over 600 properties in York, the Government committed £45 million to reduce flood risk and increase resilience to at least 2,000 properties at risk and keep the city open for business during major floods.
The agency stresses that its proposals are not final, and will need to win public support, be technically feasible and affordable.
It wants to know what residents think at its exhibition next week.
Earlier in the week, delays in presenting an independent inquiry report into the 2015 floods attracted criticism
Four months after the big York floods
Independent chair and flood panel announced
City of York Council has today announced the independent chair and panel members who will lead on the inquiry into the recent flooding in York.
The Inquiry was called by the council’s leadership in January and subsequently agreed at the Executive in March to look at how the city coped with the recent floods and issues such as the information given to residents, the response of key organisations and the failure of the Foss Barrier on Boxing Day.
A budget of £50k has been set aside for the costs of the inquiry.
It is expected that representatives from key organisations will be asked to give their account of the floods to the inquiry team but that there will be a wider call for evidence from those who were affected and others who can assist the inquiry reaching its conclusion.
The lengthy delay in setting up the Inquiry means that some evidence may have been lost. Memories can fade quickly.
While the team selected do appear to have the necessary technical expertise to challenge the activities of the Environment Agency and other organisations most of the criticism on 26th and 27 December was directed at the Council’s leadership and various voluntary organisations who seemed to react slowly to the emerging crisis. Having an Inquiry team apparently selected by the four group Leaders – who themselves were noticeable by their absence on 26th December – may lead to some scepticism about the likely outcomes.
The Leaders of all four political groups at City of York Council have said: “It’s important that as a local council we do everything we can to answer residents’ questions and ensure lessons can be learned for the future. This review will help us to get a much clearer picture of what happened and what steps need to be taken to try to prevent flooding like this in the future. We thank Ms Davies, Mr Waterhouse and Mr Toole for applying to lead on the inquiry and we look forward to working with them on this independent review.”
The independent chair and panel members include:
£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.
The 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
York Floods Update – Disaster Fund says 100 grants handed over
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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