As a result of the flooding around the country in 2007 the Government commissioned Sir Michael Pitt to review how Government and Local authorities should handle flooding in the future. I recently attended a meeting in Manchester as a representative of Wigan Council to find out what progress has been made since 2007. Pitt made 92 recommendations which were accepted by the Government. Here are some of the more important ones:
1. Knowing when and where flooding will occur - this will mean improving the way weather forecasts are compiled and mapping possible areas of flooding risk in each authority
2. Improve the way we plan to reduce the risk
3. Better advice and help for people to protect themselves.
There is now a view that the planning system must be more proactive to lessen the risk of flooding when they consider new buildings in areas which could flood.
In Ashton we have been fortunate in having an MP Ian McCartney and a group of local residents who have been working hard in conjunction with United Utilities and the Environment Agency to mitigate the effects of flooding in our locality following the floods of 2002.
This work is still going on and soon a scheme will be announced to build a large storage tank in the Chester Drive area to alleviate flooding around that area. This scheme is just one more step in reducing the risk of flooding in Ashton.
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