I and other Lib Dem Councillors have been very concerned that the final mitigation measures for Southwell have still not been published nearly 4½ years after the event. We continue to question several aspects of the proposals seen to date. There is a lack of transparency in the costings and in spite of being a significant contributor, the Council and the public have been excluded from meaningful involvement, including access to the flood model to assess planning applications.

There are many questions over whether the schemes seen to date give value for money with only about 60 houses protected from flood risk, the rest relying on “property level protection” and no proposals to do anything for Halloughton and Nottingham Roads.

I am also very unhappy that the town resident’s are being asked to pay a much higher proportion of the precept than the the District and County Councils are offering. Your Lib Dem councillors will continue to try to keep a close watch on proposals and fight for the transparency the town of Southwell deserves.