Flood Action

Rory attended the Pooley Bridge and Dacre Flood Action Group multi-agency meeting on Friday 20th January 2012 at Pooley Bridge Village Hall, in a well-attended event that included residents and representatives from the Environment Agency, Lake District National Park Authority, Cumbria Highways, Eden District Council, United Utilities and Ullswater Steamers. During the meeting the MP undertook to take the Action Group’s suggestions on flood insurance for at-risk homeowners to Minister Richard Benyon ahead of the culmination at the end of 2013 of the existing Statement of Principles between government and the insurance industry.

The group discussed the issues of house insurance, flood prevention measures, funding for flood prevention in rural areas, and other concerns about gulley and pavement sweeping and the ongoing maintenance of street drainage.

Rory said: “This has been an excellent meeting that has attracted an incredible cross-section of local agencies, all of whom have an interest in the long-term protection of Pooley Bridge against damaging floods such as those in 2005 and 2009. I would like to thank John Beer and the residents of Pooley Bridge for inviting me along. I have taken away valuable information about the great need for flexibility and co-operation from the agencies who operate in the area, and am also grateful for Mr Beer’s report on flood insurance, which I shall be taking to the Minister, Richard Benyon. I also hope to invite the Minister to visit Cumbria in the near future, and will ensure that I use Pooley Bridge as a case study to show what needs to be done for rural communities at risk of flooding.”

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