Drainage Project Stalled

Following on from the last blog article. The Parish Council held an extraordinary meeting on Wednesday night (24th Nov) to discuss the situation. Five members of the public attended, three flood victims, resident W and one of his sons. The situation was reported that the contractor had been called off due to lack of written consent by resident W for access.

The proceedings were closed to enable members of the public to speak and resident W advised that he wished to have a legal agreement that the Parish Council would maintain the proposed new drain in perpetuity. (The Parish Council cannot accept such a condition but has already agreed and minuted the decision to set funds aside to cleanse the new system. Parish Council minutes are a legal document acceptable in a court of law.)

He further advised that he would not grant access as despite owning the property at 6 Scalby Lane it was tenanted by a family member and he could not say whether the tenant would allow the access. However Riparian Law relates to land owners and the council can only deal with owners not tenants. Any landlord has rights of entry for maintenance and to undertake works.

The Parish Council felt that they had reached an impasse. In the circumstances they resolved to ask resident W one more time to grant permission for access to the dyke across 6 Scalby Lane. A deadline of noon Friday to give a chance of the contractor being able to react in time was laid down and the meeting ended. If the response is not forthcoming phase 1 cannot proceed and thus phases 2 and 3 also cannot proceed. Responsibility for any future flooding can be laid directly at the door of this one individual.

Phase 1 of flood risk reduction works to start

Following a very long and torturous process the long awaited first stage of the improvement works is due to start on Monday 22nd of November. The East Riding of Yorkshire Council drainage department have slightly amended the design to move the termination of the proposed culvert downstream to make access for future maintenance easier. The residents at either side of the dyke were consulted. At a residents meeting held in the Cross Keys hotel when the scheme was explained to them by the Lower Ouse Internal Drainage Board and the contractor present to discuss methods proposed the required access it was agreed the job proceed with the 22nd November as the start date. Funding of this phase is arranged by the Parish Council.
As the contractor would require significant access working room at the rear of 6 Scalby Lane the parish council held a special meeting to approve payment to restore the drive and garden to its "before" condition on completion. Independant survey photographs of the drive and garden would be taken at the start of work and removeable items taken up and stored safely for the duration of the job.
On completion of phase 1 the county council will undertake the subsequent phases of the works to provide secure and improved drainage to Westbrook Road and surrounds. This subsequent work is conditional upon phase 1 completion.

Anti-Social Behaviour

The village is developing an unenviable notoriety for rowdy youth behaviour. Of late we have seen youths damaging property in the centre of the village and creating an atmosphere of apprehension among the residents. Some of the problems may be attributed to outside youths but there seems to be a hard core of troublemakers who live within the village itself.
The troubles are escalating and within a matter of only a few weeks we have seen an assault on the pensioner who locked the play area gates, a pumpkin hurled through a window, an assault on an off duty police officer, and during the last week the old Sandholme Station house has been gutted by fire. Local radio news mentioned this as being of suspicious origin - is this a euphamism for arson? The rule of law appears to be breaking down.
Softly softly policies seem to be ineffective - where do we as a community go from here?