Dear Rory and Neil,
The Carlisle and district communities will be meeting on the 4th April to review the findings of the Carlisle Flood Action Group, and the journey towards prevention of future flood events.
It is important a full global tender process is put in play for new defence works and flood management schemes for the city. I understand from Cumbria County Council yesterday that the EA and United Utilities are de facto invited to lead the delivery of any new works. We should be grateful if any appointments, real or tacit, are paused and we examine the Ends we are working towards, and the Ways and Means of delivery. The danger is we sleepwalk into, as Professor Dieter Helm puts it, a sticking plaster solution. The people of Carlisle deserve better than the same team being invited back to fix 'the building that fell over last time due to ineffective design and works'.
There is little confidence, as Helm outlines, in the capability of the EA. They are an institution that has been pulled in under direct government direction, losing their first agent status. By Helm's estimate, and on this evidence a global tender process is essential. With the very real prospect that the EA might need to step aside, or undertake a purely facilitatory role. It appears that the success of the Dutch programme is the senior politicians' willingness to collaborate towards the goal of full protection.
We also have limited confidence in local authorities to examine and question proposed pathways and we should, as a Group, be grateful for full involvement so the appropriate local agenda is brought to the fore. Diane Wood, the CEO of Cumbria County Council is notable by her silence and unwillingness to meet. It is unconscionable that a repeat of flooding could fall down to weakness of local leadership and due diligence at this early critical stage of planning. It is our view the local leadership here are without the skill sets to provide a full and fair assessment of the city's needs. I understand the flood recovery programme is not formalised into any working document by the lead authority, and managers express they are burdened by the additional management load of the flood event. Research suggests local managers are keen after disasters to return to normal working patterns, and their capacity to entertain the creative and innovative falls away quickly. There is also real confusion about who leads now and in the future.
The government has awarded itself £700m from the general insurance industry. Again, this money must be bid for and awarded to the best management scheme. Rather than automatically find itself re-charged back through DEFRA's books, with the potential top-slicing of internal management fees eroding on the ground spend. This would lead to more than dismay amongst the community. If the EA are given the lead they will lean to their preferred methodology of capital spending on physical barriers, not the widest possible remit of viewing the whole catchments' long-term management. The Director of Catchment appointments are seen here for what they are, nominal, and undermine confidence in the EA to work with full grasp of reality. The EA's volume of messaging about its activities only goes to further highlight their own anxieties at this stage.
On behalf of the thousands of victims here, we should be grateful for your earliest attention and full engagement with the Group. We are cognisant of the need to keep options open but should also appeal for meaningful on the ground contact with senior officers, not the well-meaning but operationally focused team who are currently offered as liaison. We will continue to support your existing programmes fully in good faith, but local attention, and "special status" is needed for Carlisle, given the scale of the catastrophe. Many homes are still not dry and the real heroes of this event are the people battling to restore their properties and lives. This is a noble city, with enormous potential. But real leadership is lacking.
Sincerely,
Dr Stephen Gibbs
cc John Kelsall, Vice-Chair
Diane Bryant, Group Secretary
Dr Stephen Gibbs MBA (Lancs) PhD (Lancs) PGCert(Mgt) PCPD MCMI FHEA
Chair
m. 07544 581601
e. carlislefloodsaction@gmail.com
Chair
m. 07544 581601
e. carlislefloodsaction@gmail.com
