Richard Baum

Yesterday’s reports of flooding on Spring Vale have seen increased efforts to rectify the situation today. Which is good news because it’s pouring down again.

I have sent a letter to United Utilities asking them what they plan to do to stop people in my ward sploshing around in raw sewage from their drains. The Council have also got involved, and have arranged for someone at UU to go down and speak to the worst affected residents to try and sort this problem out. In the short term though, they’ve had to resort to sand bags to try and keep the water out. This is a welcome development, in that at least something is being done. But really, sandbags are absolutely not an appropriate long term solution to this. We aren’t in Whitechapel at war time, we’re in suburban Prestwich in 2009 and there’s got to be a better way than sandbags.

Hopefully United Utilities will agree. It’s about time they pulled their finger out. Unless of course their finger is plugging a hole in the drain, in which case they should leave their finger where it is whilst thinking about a more sustainable solution.

Thanks once again though must go to the Council’s Environmental Services department, who have worked very hard to get some progress today. I have criticised them in the past in fairly colourful terms, and rightly so because they have re-defined the word “awful” at times. But recently there’s been a marked improvement in the timeliness and effectiveness of their help, and more often than not at the moment they are providing good and quick solutions to the problems of local people that I raise with them. This has been a good example, and hopefully we can see it through to a successful conclusion for residents.

Rick