Since my last post, work has been going on behind the scenes. We have had a number of meetings with our Unitary Councillor at West Northants Council and he is completely in agreement with our concerns.
We have walked a number of stretches of the Nene and the tributaries to establish the size of the problem and we now have a meeting in the diary with the Highways Co-ordinator. That meeting will cover Badby and Newnham.
We will update on the outcomes in due course.
Now to the village.
I explained in my first post that the contingency plan relies on the co-operation of the village to work and that volunteers would be needed. I am very sorry to say that message has not been acted on and we have only received one volunteer to date.
I asked that anyone in the vulnerable areas who would be likely to need help in the event of flooding contact me and they would be added to the list for priority help. I have had one reply.
I asked that those in the vulnerable areas tell me how many sandbags they need so that the PC can allocate to those premises. I have had no replies.
The reality is that we either have an effective co-ordinated plan for the village, or we have nothing other than a list of phone numbers to call if the flooding ever occurs again.
If you are willing to be added to any of the lists, please contact me. So far this has been a once in a decade occurrence and whilst that may change, it is not a huge commitment to make.
For those who will need help – please let me know. I cannot help you if you don’t.
If you need sandbags, please let me know. The PC is happy to purchase a number – but will not do so if there is no uptake. There are many demands on funds and money will not be made available to purchase sandbags if no-one wants them.
We will continue to work with WNC in an effort to get them to meet their legal obligations ongoing – but we also need to be resilient ourselves.
I will be delivering flyers to the two most affected areas to make sure everyone knows, but I would encourage you to speak to friends and neighbours and make them aware.
If you wish to contact me, my email is Floodwarden@badby-pc.gov.uk or you can message me on the Badby facebook page.