The ongoing work we have been doing for what seems like forever to protect Beech Close in Brasside from flooding moved a step closer last night at a public meeting for Beech Close Residents with council officers, your three councillors and representatives from the MOJ present.

After years of failings by so many agencies to address the issue we finally managed to get the Council to take this matter seriously over the last year or so, with a lot of work being done. Many years ago a meeting with the MP produced nothing and residents still vividly remember that Labour failure as was mentioned at last nights meeting.

The remaining hurdle to complete a long term solution is the lining of the main drain running through the estate, which would provide protection for up to 75 years. The cost is not so great, but more than half of the pipe is on Ministry of Justice land with the remainder under residents properties.

We have committed as Councillors to contribute towards the non-MoJ areas, to speed up the repair process from local budgets. Now a formal bid to the MoJ’s estates budget has been submitted by their regional estates officer, so we may be just a few months away from a final solution to this issue.

If this happens it will be fantastic news for those residents who have been flooded out as many as four times in the last 15 years. I am pleased to say, confidently, that without continuous Lib Dem councillor pressure this issue would never have been addressed.

The way in which residents were previously treated by the authorities was shameful. We were even told at one point we couldn’t bid for environmental agency funding when we could. Thankfully we are now closer than ever before to a final solution.

Thanks should be given to those Council officers who finally accepted Mamie, Amanda and I were not going away and got fully behind action.