Minutes:
Councillor Sir Steve Houghton (Leader of the Council) asked if he could take the opportunity to comment on recent events in Barnsley and South Yorkshire around the recent floods in the area.
As Members were aware parts of Barnsley had been flooded as well as other areas around South Yorkshire and indeed further afield. He asked to place on record his sincere thanks first of all to all the Emergency Services for the work they had undertaken in ensuring that people remained safe. He then asked to record his thanks to the staff of the Authority, some of whom had worked virtually three days without sleep and who were on site with residents making sure that they were safe and assisting in ensuring that water was removed from premises, helping to clean up afterwards, making sure that they were financially secure in the immediate aftermath and then helping them to prepare for the future.
Staff had behaved in an exemplary manner as did many Members who also became engaged in their wards, supported the staff and supported the residents as well who all deserved credit for all that they had done.
Clearly, this had been a difficult issue for the Authority which would now be looking at not just the causes of the flooding but also how further improvements to flood defences could be made as well as learning the lessons from what had occurred and why. The good news was that the flooding this time had not been as bad as it had been in 2007, nevertheless, it was still bad for the people who had been affected. It was hoped, therefore, that in the future such events could be managed even better but, of course, that would require help from the government financially to support some of the activities that required to be undertaken.
The work that had been undertaken by Barnsley Council staff, the work that had been undertaken in some cases by volunteers and Members and been absolutely outstanding and what had been a difficult situation had been prevented from being something worse because of their actions so every Member in the Chamber this morning would agree with him in expressing sincere thanks to each and every person involved because on those days and beyond they did Barnsley proud. He also stated that in addition, some staff of the Authority had assisted colleagues and residents in both Rotherham and Doncaster so, on behalf of the whole Council and the people of Barnsley, he expressed thanks to each member of staff, Member and volunteer who had been involved in this exercise.