Derbyshire parish council hosts public meeting with residents displaced after storm Babet floods

Several residents were displaced after the Windermere Road and Clay Lane flooding

Clay Cross Parish Council invited residents affected by the Storm Babet flooding to a public meeting, to put their questions to the local authority.

The meeting took place at Clay Cross Social Centre, and was attended by several residents who have been displaced after the Windermere Road and Clay Lane flooding last Friday.

Residents wanted to hear about how the council planned to support those affected and to mitigate any future flooding.

Chair of the Council, Jerry Morley outlined the council’s immediate priorities, including the dredging and general clear up of Smithy Brook.

Clay Cross Parish Council invited residents to attend a meeting to put their questions to the local authority in the wake of the recent flooding.

The council’s other priorities were presented in a motion, which said: “the council resolves to write to the NEDDC, Derbyshire county council, and the environmental agency, calling upon them to: A, support the residents in dealing with the immediate consequences of the the flooding; B, call for flood prevention measures to be installed to ensure that this community never suffers from this flooding again; C, also to write to the member of parliament for North East Derbyshire, asking that he secures government funding to support the residents during this time and to fund future flood prevention work.”

The potential role of Clay Lane’s new housing development in causing the nearby brook to overflow was also discussed. Councillor Morley pointed out that the council had opposed the new development, and that they had raised concerns about the building proposal at the time, but they had no authority to refuse permission.

Paul Greenfield was one resident who attended the meeting and said he was “relatively happy” with what the council had said, and that their immediate plans were in line with what he expected from them.

The Windermere Road resident said he attended the meeting to inform the council that he was disappointed, after not seeing much of a council presence on the estate, over the weekend after the flooding. Paul had been living on the Clay Lane estate when it was hit by a similar flood in the early 80s.

He said: “When the estate flooded 41 years ago, it was only one side of the road that was affected, so people were more able to help one another. This time, because it was both sides of the road that were flooded, people didn’t know where to turn. I did think that the Parish councillors ought to have been there and maybe offered to get a catering wagon or tried to provide us with something to eat and drink, or any other show of support”.

During the meeting, Councillor Morley pointed out that one councillor, who lived nearby, had been to the estate on the day of the floods, talking to some residents, and that he himself had visited the estate the day before the meeting. One Windermere Road resident who didn’t think the meeting was very helpful was Linda Pound.

Talking about the council's solution, Linda said: “I would have liked to have had a bit more reassurance as to what they could do to ease our minds about the risk of future flooding.

“The plan to dredge the brook is alright but it can’t just be done once, in response to this situation. It needs doing on an annual basis because there is always going to be debris in the brook.”