In October, Southwell Town Councillors were astonished to be accused of dragging their feet over funding of flood defences. The accusation came from one of  Southwell’s own District Councillors claiming that the Town Council had been pontificating when it should have been first in the queue.

In fact the Town Council was indeed the first to offer flood funding. After the July 2013 floods, Liberal Democrat Councillors straight away committed £40,000 for flood mitigation, with the suggestion that this should be raised to £120,000 over three years. The sum was raised to £75,000, but recognising that this was Council Tax money from Southwell Residents, further funding was promised when details of the flood mitigation scheme were known. Now, 4½ years later £120,000 has been promised but the Town Council still haven’t seen the details of the scheme.

What particularly upset Lib Dem Town Councillors was that, despite repeated requests for a figure for Southwell, the District Council only offered its £220,000 funding commitment in September this year.