On a weekend where we have seen yet more flooding on Lower Barn Road, I have discovered that the long-awaited flood alleviation work on Lower Barn Road and Mitchley Avenue will no longer go ahead. On Wednesday the Council issued a S114 notice which means that it accepts that it cannot balance its budget and all non-essential expenditure is to cease. Our flood alleviation project is not considered by the Council to be ‘essential’.
The funding for such projects comes from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) in the form of grants intended to be used in flood alleviation projects. However, the Council did not ringfence the DEFRA grants and as such the payments have been subsumed into Croydon Council’s General Fund which covers day-to-day costs. This level of financial mismanagement is a disgrace.
A lot of work has gone into progressing the S19 Flood Investigation in Riddlesdown and formulating the Flood Alleviation Plan, so it is devastating that this will not proceed. This scheme would have reduced the Council’s costs in the long term, reducing the necessity for contractors to attend to pump out flood water and clear the resulting damage. Only today I have seen numerous contractors on site remedying today’s flooding – and these contractors do not come cheaply! With only one pumping appliance available across the whole of Croydon, reducing flooding in one location frees up personnel and equipment to be deployed elsewhere. Refusing to fund the Lower Barn Road/Mitchley Avenue scheme is simply short-sighted and not cost-effective. Meanwhile, the S19 Flood Investigation continues in Purley Oaks but with no money in the pot, there will presumably be no funding to follow the recommendations.
As I walked around Riddlesdown today, I spotted so many blocked drains – not just covered in a few leaves, but actually blocked with solid matter. Our Council is not even providing the basics at this point and as a community we must ensure that the Council is aware of blockages upstream. I’m going to be spending the next hour or so reporting blockages on the Love Clean Streets App – it would be appreciated if the Council would return the favour by actually keeping our streets clean!
