Tell us about your flooding problems appeal to Fenland residents by local councillors

Fenlanders affected by flooding are being asked to pass their issues on to local county councillors in a move to "get to the bottom" of the area's problems.

Householders and businesses across the district were hit by flooding over the Christmas period with residents around the whole of March suffering the worst affects.

Now Cambridgeshire County Council is asking people to speak up ahead of wider partnership meeting next month.

March County Councillor Jan French together with her colleague, and county council leader Councillor Steve Count, are collating information on where the flooding occurred.

She said: "I have been contacted by people from across the area, March was particularly badly hit, as always. But there was also flooding in Manea, Wimblington, Doddington as well as Tydd St Giles.

"We want to hear from everyone who has had problems with flooding because we are determined to get to the bottom of it.

"The appeal is for information county wide, but obviously I'm focused on Fenland. We need to find out what the issues are and then come up with solutions.

"Is it Anglian Water's pipe work is not up to the job, is it because Highways are not cleaning out the gulleys, is it because developers are filling in dykes and ditches, or that dykes and ditches are not being properly maintained.

"This has gone on long enough and it causes misery for those affected. There is one woman in Elm Road, March who has lost everything and has had to move out.

"It is not a case of wanting to point the finger, we need to find out what is causing the problems and for those responsible to take the necessary action to stop it happening again.

Coun Count said: “I want to commend the community response to the flooding, people certainly pulled together across the county.

“I have asked officers to look at the lessons learnt from these latest floods and share that with all our partners at the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Flood and Water Partnership as soon as possible.

"We are convening an extraordinary meeting of this group in early February to start collating this information.

“Local members will be asking people for issues they had to deal with to feed into the review, Councillor John Gowing and Councillor Jan French have been collating information in March, to ensure completeness and local knowledge alongside my own involvement.

"I would urge the public to contact their local councillor and report any household or premise flooding incidents in their area.”

Over the next week officers will be gathering data on the flooding hotspots, workshops will take place with the district councils, the county council will carry out a review in the next few weeks before a special meeting with the partnership next month.

It is important that we know where flood incidents occurred so we are asking local residents to report them via the links on the council’s website here:

https://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/business/planning-and-development/flood-and-water/report-a-flood

Coun Count added: “We are collating the flooding incidents, contacting partners at other agencies such as the Environment Agency, Internal Drainage Boards, police, fire and district councils, this will allow us to create ‘heat maps’ of the incidents and identify areas across the county and allow all agencies to work together, share understanding and learn lessons.

“The responsibility for managing and investigating flooding rests with various agencies, but it is important that we co-ordinate responses and share information. I want us to make sure we’re capturing the latest round of events from each area and every area impacted, acting as a conduit for information and coordinating action with all partners involved.”

Fenland people can report their flooding issues to Coun French either via Facebook or by emailing: jfrench@fenland.gov.uk