Around 100 residents attended a meeting at Gunville Methodist Church on Thursday (25th April) to discuss the impact of the flooding in the area which took place last Autumn, and to see what could be done to prevent it from happening again. As a follow-up to the meeting, Island MP Bob Seely spoke with the Council Chief Executive on Friday afternoon to make sure that residents’ concerns were being listened to. Bob Seely MP said:
“Thank you to all the residents who attended the meeting to air their concerns and thank you also to the Council officers who came along to help answer questions.” Bob was contacted by resident Kristy White over a month ago. After meeting with Kristy White and others, Bob wrote to the Council with questions drawn up by residents. Those detailed answers were provided Thursday evening. “I thank Kristy for working with others to provide the community with leadership. “It was clear from the meeting on Thursday evening that Gunville residents are very concerned about the risk of future flooding, especially if more houses are built in the area. Having seen the impact of the flooding on some of their houses I can understand why. “I objected to previous plans to build more houses in the area in part because of the increased risk of flooding. The floods have hit some families very hard. As someone who has been flooded in recent months, I know how frustrating that is.”
The plan is as follows:
“First, a flood report is due out soon. After this, we will need a plan in place to minimise future risk. This needs to be public and transparent. As soon as the report is out, I will speak again to the Chief Executive. “Second, I am encouraging residents who were affected to please apply for grants to help make their property flood-proof. These grants have been brought in by this government precisely to help in situations like this. The email address to apply to is here: www.iow.gov.uk/keep-the-island-safe/severe-weather/november-2023-flood-support/ “If anyone has any questions, please email here: [email protected]. Any issues in relation with either of the above, please email me: [email protected].”
Cllr Paul Fuller and Cllr Joe Lever also attended the meeting.
Sadly it’s a total waste of time talking to the council they just keep slapping concrete down everywhere only going to get worse
Yet those residents that were flooded in Ryde still have not seen any money from said grants due to Council processing and not helping them !.
those fields used to soak up rainwater, now they have been concreted, tarmaced and built on – that doesn’t make the rain water go away – just means the houses flood – no amount of reports will change it – the only solution to address the flooding is to bulldoze the houses, rip up the concrete and tarmac and put it back to being a field again.
Just stop building!!!!!
We will have more and more flooding with the giant concrete jungle that is being allowed to overtake our green space ….
And alas our ???? Council…..
Couldn’t give a damn…..
No new news on that front!!!!!!
When will they listen ????
Don’t hold your breath, hell will freeze over first …..
The Island is overpopulated with houses and flats.
Use all the derelict sites, stop building new homes.
There are enough properties for sale on Rightmove and when
IW Council start charging Double Council tax, many more properties
will become available.
Stop building bloody houses! Are we a biosphere or a building site?
All the finger wagging from the council, ie you should feel guilty for existing because you hurt the environment, only then to green light umpteen more developments, needed because the iow council are busy housing other councils problems!!
exactly – if there wern’t so many “new faces” seen around the islands towns lately, then perhaps there would be accommodation for islanders.
The council should be saying “no benefit funded moves to the island, no jobless spongers permitted to move here without a job lined up, no asylum seekers, no dinghy arrivals, no 2nd homes, no airbnb and no more retirees unless self funding the move.
the island doesn’t have a housing problem – it has a population problem – too many here – get rid of them.