12/03/2010 by Steve Barclay.

Building on the day spent with Marc Hedding, who as Chairman of the Wimblington Internal Drainage Board gave me a hands-on insight on drainage issues a fortnight ago, I spent most of the day today with Russell Wright who is the Clerk to no less than five internal drainage boards at the Whittlesey end of the constituency.  Whittlesey Internal Drainage Board alone covers over 100 miles of water courses, which gives you a sense of why I regard this issue as so important to our community.

Russell was fascinating to listen to, with a deep practical knowledge of how we best protect this area from the risk of flooding.  The Government’s obsession with one size fits all means they are trying to merge drainage boards so they have at least £500,000 income, pay for an office staffed 9am to 5.30pm (as if flooding only happens in office hours), a chief executive with a legal or finance qualification, a finance director, and a whole load of other costs like a computerised rating (although no one seems to know what this is!).  By contrast, Russell works part time from home, has no office costs, is on call at any time including week-ends when there is heavy rainfall, and works in tandem with local farmers who volunteer their time for free.

Once again Labour are seeking to add regulation and cost to a system that works well now.  It might be that some of the internal drainage boards should and will merge, but in my view this should be organic and driven from the boards themselves, rather than imposed from Whitehall in a top down process. The admin costs of the smaller internal drainage boards are often around 12% in non election years, lower than the admin costs of some large boards (one board with an
income over £1 million currently runs at over 20% admin due to their office costs).  So the government position that a larger board “is a robust indicator of…..required management and technical capacity” is misplaced.

Not all that the current government has done on this issue is bad.  The Pitt Review recommendation of an asset register strikes me as a positive step forward.  One of the problems I have found in the past, such as with the flooding to homes in Delph ward, is the lack of up to date records as to who is responsible for what between Anglia Water, Fenland District Council, County Council Highways, the Environment Agency, and the Middle Level Commission.  However I am concerned whether the County Council will have the resources to lead effectively given the resource pressures from the Government’s underfunding, and the demands in other areas like child protection.  Will the Environment Agency release funding to County Councils?

It also is surprising that planning permission continues to be given so that building work starts before adequate drainage is agreed.  Drainage boards are not consultees on planning, even if they do comment.  My fear is that with a building then complete, the pressure is increased for a fudge on drainage, rather than getting the right solution before building work begins. For example planning went ahead on Gaul Road in March for 135 houses even though this was opposed by the Middle Level Commission.

Increased development is clearly putting extra pressure on the system, and so too are environmental concerns.  There is the reluctance to dredge rivers in certain areas because of environmental concerns, such as to protect voles.  The drainage boards themselves have issues to address, such as succession planning and cover for key staff.

Notwithstanding these challenges, none of the areas of the UK with internal drainage boards flooded last year, in contrast to many other parts of the country.  The Middle Level is unique, as the only part of the country which pumps water twice.  Internal Drainage Boards play a key role in protecting the Fen landscape.  They are staffed by people with practical experience on the ground not stuck behind desks.  Labour should leave them alone.

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23/08/2009 by Steve Barclay.

Opened the Wimblington Village Fun Day on Sunday.  Darcy, a popular trainee guide dog for the blind was there with trainer and South Cambridgeshire County Councillor John Reynolds.  Chatting with John I discovered that each guide dog takes 13 months to train, with Darcy already 9 months into her training.  A pure bred golden retriever, Darcy is sponsored by BBC Radio Cambridgeshire with listeners having donated their old mobile phones to raise the £5,000 required for training.  To find out more about Darcy click HERE.

Whilst at the Wimblington Fun Day I catch up with a number of familiar faces including Sylvia Mansfield who is doing such great work with Breathe Easy Fenland, and meet up with event organiser Maureen Davis.  Community events like this take a great deal of work and it is thanks to Maureen and her helpers that the children are all enjoying the bouncy castle, face painting and other facilities they have arranged.   It is also surprising to see the fantastic new allotments in Wimblington - they have been in place less than a year and it is the first time I have seen them.  It is clear from the allotment holders that there is a wonderful community spirit, and the produce being grown looks very impressive.  The next step is to get a hut, and the fun day will have helped with raising funds.

The day before on Saturday involved my regular programme of coffee meetings, with a morning meeting in Gorefield and an afternoon meeting in March.  A wide range of issues raised and it is really helpful to get an update on what is impacting local businesses and families.  These range from economic issues - it is for clear for example that there are no signs of any green shoots in the building trade where bank finance remains a problem - to the specific such as the lack of a lottery machine in the local post office.  A lottery machine would help get people to go into the village store to buy other products.  Where rural post offices have recently closed their services have not been allocated to those remaining which is another missed opportunity.  A chance for me to flag the new policy the Conservative Party has set out which raises the bar with tougher criteria before a rural post office can be closed, recognising the wider community value they offer. Another issue raised was that only one student from Wisbech had enrolled on a brick laying course at King’s Lynn.  At some point the building trade will pick up and we should ensure planning is joined up so that students are training now to take advantage of these jobs when they emerge in the future.  This is an issue I know Cllr Alan Melton and Fenland District Council are keen to tackle with more support for vocational training, so a point to mention to him when we next catch up.

Throughout the week-end it is perfect sunshine - whether sitting in the gardens at the Gorefield and March coffee meetings on Saturday or at the Wimblington Fun Day on Sunday.  The Fens look stunning.

Sunday evening was an opportunity to catch Griff Rhys Jones on BBC1 completing his Rivers programme by canoeing on the Fens - including the Forty Foot.  It showcased the Fenland landscape, and hopefully this sort of coverage will encourage more tourists to pay us visit in the future.  I am not sure however how far he canoed for - Graham Chappell put in a superb marathon canoeing effort to raise funds for the Road Safety Campaign but Griff looked like he had not even worked up a sweat.  And rather like Darcy, I think most viewers thought Cadbury was the real star of his show.
  

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