Parish Council, flooding, fences…
As is my wont on occasion, I attended the Parish Council meeting that took place last evening, as a member of the public.
The meeting is the latest of several I have attended over the past twelve months, and not surprisingly, was not remarkably different to the other recent meetings I had attended.
As usual, the “Flooding Committee” was particularly well represented and vocal, on the public benches.
Prior to the Flooding Committee being formed, I have to say that I had only set eyes upon one member of it, and getting around the village as I do, that suggests to me that the committee consists primarily of “newcomers” to the village.
Whilst no-one would wish anyone the hardship, inconvenience and unpleasantness that the flooding of one’s property entails, and of course one has sympathy with those whom are flooded - particularly the more mature and long term owners of such properties, one has to ask who on earth would be willing to buy a house that has been subject to flooding on so many occasions over the years. Certainly I would not even for a moment consider living in the properties which are most at risk, and I suspect it would be difficult to find any long-standing inhabitant of the village willing to do so either.
But, one has to accept that if someone wishes to live in such a place, so be it. However, it seems a bit of a paradox to me, that one could purchase such a property, then when it has again flooded, approach the authorities for some redress…
There are another couple of points that I found interesting regarding the Flood Committee - it seems logical to me, that if you have an area that is prone to severe flooding, and you want to alleviate that problem, then you clear the downstream side of the flood site as much as is possible or practicable, in order to disperse the floodwater, and leave in place anything upstream that slows the flow of floodwater into the problem area…
But it appears from what was said last evening, that great efforts are being made to clear the watercourses which are part of the infrastructure which bring the floodwaters to the area in the first place… Hmmmmm.
Finally, we come to the issue of the brook, the local children and a proposed new fence. It was alleged at the meeting that some local young children - mine included - have been playing on the grassed area adjacent to the streetlamp after the hours of darkness, at the bottom of Jeffs Close - and whilst they have been so doing, they have been making so much noise as to have frightened an “Elderly” neighbour of the contributor at the meeting. This same contributor noted that the children were throwing stones and dirt into the brook, undoing the work carried out over a weekend by a mechanical digger and a number of volunteers… Apparently this is worthy of a report to social services! A correspondant to the meeting asked for a new fence to be purchased and erected by the Parish Council, to run from the edge of the bridge in Orchard Close to the hedge adjacent to the “Coach House”. Upon being questioned as to the reason for the fence, I was informed it was “to stop children falling into the brook when it is in flood…” As I pointed out - there has certainly been no fence there for the past 41 years - and since prior to that time the area was grassland, there likely never has been. One gets the feeling of an amount of disingenuity taking place… To my surprise, rather than discussing the issue as to the needs or sensibilities of having a fence in that area, the Parish Council chose instead to investigate the costs of such a fence, then to discuss whether or not to proceed with it on a cost basis at a later date…
I’m beginning to look around the village to see what projects I can ask the Parish Council to carry out…
Will Doherty.
February 7th, 2008 at 11:58 am
The ramblings of someone who has not endured the horrors of flooding. Well done your comments are really helpful. A local with a thesaurus and chip on his shoulder,superb. Admitting that social services visited regarding the children is quite an admission and must of mustered some courage though. Speaking to one of the parents of the other children, she made no mention of anyone else having any contact from the SS. hmmmmmmmmm as you put it.
Ed
February 8th, 2008 at 01:20 am
Where to start, Ed…?
You have the advantage of me, in that you obviously know who I am, whilst I have no idea whom you are. From your comments it appears that you are resident within and, to an extent, knowledgeable of the area.
Rather unfortunate, then, that you did no research prior to posting your response - though I suppose it is much more a personal attack than a response to the initial post.
In the Easter floods a few years back, the house where I then lived flooded to a depth of some 750mm, so I have in-depth (!) knowledge of “the horrors of flooding”.
My comments were intended neither to be helpful nor unhelpful, rather a reflection on the situation as I see it - and I am far from alone in my perspective. I had anticipated that were there any responses, they would have a point, or debate some of the issues raised - sadly not the case… Not even any effort on your part so to do…
Reading through the initial entry once again, I note your comprehension skills are a somewhat questionable too.
Try as I may, I cannot equate the sentence:-
“Apparently this is worthy of a report to social services!”
(a comment on a statement made by a member of the “Flood Committee” in the Parish Council meeting),
to your statement (which makes little sense, in any case):-
“Admitting that social services visited regarding the children is quite an admission and must of mustered some courage though.”
For the record: we have never had any contact with Social Services regarding the care we offer to our children, and have no reason to expect any - unless, of course, the thinly veiled threat made at the Parish Council meeting is carried out, in which case, we may have a visit! I would expect that Social Services are well used to dealing with infantile and spurious accusations though…
Just to clear up the other misconceptions you seem to have - firstly, I have had no requirement to refer to a thesaurus since I left school, and secondly, I have no chip on my shoulder - why would I have?
Will Doherty.
February 11th, 2008 at 05:43 pm
‘A local with a thesaurus and chip on his shoulder, superb.’
Marvellous - check your thesaurus for alternatives to Local which include Resident, Native and Home or are you using ‘local’ in a derogatory manner?
While not strictly a local I consider myself one and most of the people I also know to be ‘local’ do not need a thesaurus (Will D being one of them) in fact most of them are even quite capable of eloquent profanity.
However if one is being picky ‘must of mustered’ indicates that maybe you are not from around these parts……………….