Introducing the Grand North Bedfordshire Water Alliance.
Last Saturday it began to rain heavily and, as any of us who live near the river know, that means that one by one our majestic North Bedfordshire Villages will begin to flood followed, potentially, by our great towns.
At time of writing there are flood warnings in effect affecting the villages of Turvey, Harrold, and Odell with multiple bridge closures in between hampering support efforts and generally stopping residents from going about their business.
I want to pay tribute to the Borough's Disaster Relief Team, many of whom are also working on the situation at Cleat Hill having transferred there following our last batch of flooding. They work very hard for very long hours and I am very grateful to them.
If we are going to find a long term solution to our flooding problem then we are going to need to work with all of our partners. This is why I have been working with the MP for North Bedfordshire, Richard Fuller MP, to create a new committee with both sides of Anglian Water (who never seem to speak to each other) covering foul and clean water respectively, the Environment Agency, the Drainage Board, Bedford Borough Council, BedsGOVET, and the NFU with other bodies being invited as and when needed.
The purpose of this body is to cut through the alphabet soup of organisations that all have an influence and start to make a difference across Bedford Borough including Bedford, Kempston, and our accompanying villages. Our number one priority will be flooding and flood prevention, the second will be making houses flood resistant, the third will be raising river quality, and the fourth will be dealing with pollution problems affecting our river. This is no small order but only by working together and cutting across many boundaries will we ever get anything done.
I have a person to head this project up who has been interviewed and will be announced soon with the first meeting in the New Year. The committee will be called the Grand North Bedfordshire Water Alliance (GNBWA) and I look forward to working with them closely.
