Peter Weir MLA | press releases

Statement

DRD MUST PROVIDE LONG TERM SOLUTION TO FLOODING PROBLEMS

Posted on: September 1, 2009

Cllr Weir at Stormont

"Yet again we have had to dela with the traditional end to the Northern Ireland summer, namely heavy downpours of rain. While there is nothing anyone in Government can do about the weather, it is highly frustrating that there is a lack of effective response to teh inevitable consequences of bad weather in areas such as North Down. While for most of us heavy rain on a weekend or a bank holiday represents a mild sense of frustration, for others in North Down, and further afield, it is a major and persistent headache, as heavy rain leads almost inevitably to regular flooding of their property. In any downpour it is the same regular households that are victim to teh damage caused by overflowing drains and water systems. This regularly of suffering is only matched by the consistent failure of the Department of Regional Development to provide a long term and lasting solution to their problems.

There has been the recent creation of the DRD Floodline, which is meant to facilitate early reaction and help to flooding victims. While this is a welcome development in theory, at present its implementation leaves a lot to be desired. Constituents in North Down have had persistent problems getting a proper response from the Floodline. I understand that part of this was due to the Met Office underestimating the severity of the weather, but it is of little comfort to residents that there is not an adequate response as a result of understaffing, caused by a failure to get joined up response on flooding.
It is clear that DRD needs to get its act together on the Floodline, but their priority should be on tackling these persistent problems on a procative and long term basis. They are aware of areas which are nearly always victims of flooding, and on most occasions these are not purely or even partially the fault of topograpy but rather endemic weaknesses within the system. I believe rather than providing short term solutions, it is high time that DRD concentrated resources on curing problems. Surely in the long run that is a much more sensible and cost efficient use of resources, and it would give peace of mind to residents whose lives are ruined by worrying about the next dowmpour."