Flood group meet to discuss future plans

Published on 1st November 2007 in News

Members of the Lower Aire Flood Action Group met in Snaith recently to discuss how to carry forward their campaign against the Environment Agency's River Aire Flood Catchment Plan.

The group was formed to fight the Agency's catchment proposal, which proposed increasing flooding in the Lower Aire region to reduce flooding elsewhere.

At the time of the plan's publication, many residents expressed anger that they had not been consulted. East Riding of Yorkshire Council also rejected the proposal in the strongest terms, claiming that the plan would lead to the loss of national and regional rail and road links and would damage local industry and increase costs to local residents as a result of the increased flooding.

The action group now contains representatives of various drainage boards and members of Parish Councils from most of the parishes affected in the East Riding and Selby District.

The group heard an update from Action Group Chairman and Town Mayor of Snaith, Frank Townshend, and Airmyn parish councillor, Andrew Percy, who had attended a meeting at Selby District Council in August where they were able to put resident's concerns directly to the Environment Agency.

Mr Percy said: "We updated the Group on the August meeting at which the Environment Agency accepted that some of the language in the plan had caused concern to local residents. Their representative also told us that they would be looking at the plan again with a view to releasing an updated version in April of 2008. This would then be followed by a further period of consultation.

"It is not clear whether that plan will contain significant changes or whether it will retain most of the original plan, but with slightly different wording. Many members of the Group expressed the view that they felt little would change and so it was important to keep up the fight.

"The Group has therefore decided to take over the petition I started in August in the hope that we can attract even more signatures to the hundreds who have already signed.

"The petition will be sent to the affected Parish Councils and we hope that more residents will sign. We are also looking at setting up some street stalls in bigger communities to gather signatures as we feel the more signatures we get now, the easier the fight will be if the revised plan is not materially different."

The petition can be signed online at www.andrewpercy.org and clicking on 'campaigns'. Alternatively, a copy is available to sign at the Goole Times offices.