Flooding – drop-in session and public meeting

A community drop-in session and public meeting about the Boxing Day floods will take place on Thursday 11 February at Radcliffe Civic Suite.

The event, organised by the Environment Agency and Bury Council, aims to give advice and deal with residents’ questions about flooding, the support available, and how future incidents can be tackled.

Between 3pm and 6.30pm, there will be an information and advice session where people will be able to talk to representatives of Bury Council, the Environment Agency, Six Town Housing, Irwell Valley Housing, the emergency services and others.

Then, from 7pm to 9pm, the council’s chief executive Mike Owen and council leader Cllr Mike Connolly will talk and invite questions about the emergency response on Boxing Day, the recovery work done since then and ways in which residents can help to protect their properties to minimise the risk of future flooding.

Mike Owen said: “The floods caused a great deal of distress for many of our residents, especially on a day when families expected to be relaxing. River levels were at their highest since records began, and emergency responders were faced with more than 70 serious incidents across the borough. There were, though, many positives to be noted, such as the way in which staff and community volunteers rallied round to help. Now that a few weeks have passed, it’s a good time to review what went well, what could have been done better, and what we can do in future.”

Cllr Connolly added: “We want to make sure residents and businesses are back on their feet as soon as possible. There are a number of cash grants to help, and advice on dealing with future flooding risks, which we can talk to you about at the Radcliffe event. If you can’t attend, or don’t want to wait until the 11th, have a look at the information on the council’s website, www.bury.gov.uk“

Mark Garratt, area flood risk manager at the Environment Agency, said:

“Our thoughts continue to be with those communities that have flooded this winter. Flooding has a devastating impact on people’s lives and the key to recovering quickly and increase long-term resilience is for us to work together with partners and listen to the people who were affected, learning from their experiences. We would encourage anyone affected by flooding to come along to the meeting and chat to the organisations that can provide advice and support.”

ENDS

Press release issued: 2 February 2016.