Following reports of flooding in Meadow Lane, East Oxford, local City and County Councillor David Williams immediately responded to the concerns of local residents and went on site to identify a blocked drain as the likely cause of the problem.
Cllr Williams picks up the story.
Naturally, I started with the City Council, emergency line , then the County then the Environment Agency and ended up with the Highways Authority. I either had no response, was forced to leave an answerphone message, was told that they were too busy, or was given one of a host of other excuses.
Eventually, seven hours later, the Highways Authority sent somebody to clear the drain - but by this time the flooding had caused more damage.
Commenting Councillor Williams said,
Whereas the emergency services seem to be doing a good job helping residents to prepare for flooding, they seem inadequately prepared to deal with individual incidents as my experience demonstrates. There seems to be poor coordination between the local agencies. This is not an effective or cost effective way to respond to such emergencies.
Cllr Williams intends to put down a formal question at the next County Council meeting calling for a review of the effectiveness of local agency responses to the recent flooding.
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