Firstly, may I wish you all a belated Happy and Prosperous New Year. For some of
you the end of last year and the beginning of this year was very difficult, with your
properties being flooded on more than one occasion. I recognise how distressing
this must be but I believe until it happens to you it is impossible to imagine the affect
it has upon you. I have spoken to some of those affected, on the phone and others
at a recent parish council meeting. I arranged a meeting at the beginning of January
with representatives from the parish councils in Mortimer ward, Balfour Beatty,
Herefordshire Council and the Environment Agency to allow each parish to make it
clear to all these statutory bodies the impact of the flooding upon their parish. A
further local meeting is to be held in Walford at the beginning of February to try to
improve the situation in that part of the ward which not only impacted on Walford and
Buckton but also upon Leintwardine. Following this there will be a further meeting at
the beginning of March, again with all the statutory bodies and this time all parish
councillors, to ascertain, what work is going to be carried out to try to alleviate
flooding in the future and what parishes and individuals can also do to protect
themselves. I am looking at whether Border Group parish could set up a Flood
Groups or at the very least have Flood Wardens in those areas particularly
susceptible to flooding and am speaking to parishes such as Bodenham where a
scheme already exists.
Barry and I attend Aardvark’s Christmas Fair in the middle of December and that
was very enjoyable. Trouble is Aardvark is full of temptations and we never leave
without my husband having purchased a book and us having enjoyed hot chocolate
and a cake.
The Border Group Parish, along with Aymestrey and Stapleton is part of the River
Lugg Catchment Area and as such most of the parish is caught up in the River Lugg
phosphate pollution situation. This is a serious matter and has resulted in all
planning applications in the River Lugg Catchment Area which would impact on the
river ie drainage and sewerage being put on hold for the foreseeable future. This is
a situation not just affecting Herefordshire as this also applies to the Solent. Officers
at Herefordshire Council are working with Natural England and the Environment
agency to produce a policy document which will be acceptable going forward but this
may take some time.
Herefordshire Council will be setting its budget in March and I am very disappointed,
having seen the draft proposals that so much capital money is going into Hereford
City. Many roads in Mortimer ward, are in a very poor state and I have included
them in a list for resurfacing this coming financial year, but I am not hopeful. I did in
fact attend a Balfour Beatty quarterly update briefing for councillors on the 29th Jan
and we were advised that following the flooding they had at that time 500
emergency defects and 4,500 Cat 2 defects outstanding. All work being carried out
by BB was re-active
The gully jetting programme had been suspended in order to focus on priority sites
and there was a 200 gully jetting backlog.