NORTHAMPTON NORTH MP STATEMENT ON TENTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE EASTER FLOODS

Sally Keeble said the development of Northampton had to learn the lessons from the floods ten years ago. She said:

“Ten years ago Northampton suffered the devastating floods – the worst disaster to hit the town for centuries.

I would like to pay tribute to the people who made such a massive contribution to their community during the disaster – people who came to the rescue of friends and neighbours, took in family members, and ran the emergency services and centres. Their contribution made it possible for the town to recover quickly, although for many victims the scars will never heal.

There was justifiable anger that the worst of the damage and hardship could have been avoided. In particular there was a catastrophic lack of public warning systems. I will never forget the Environment Agency confessing that most of the flood warnings sent out – by fax – went into empty offices over the bank holiday. The priority for flood defences had been agricultural land – not people.

Since then much has been done to ensure that the people of Northampton are better protected. Because of climate change the country is also much more alert to flood risk.  Flood defences have been given more priority, focussing on protecting people.

But we can’t be complacent, especially with the development of Northampton. We owe it to the people who lost so much during the floods to make sure that the regeneration of Northampton is flood proof. That we respect the flood plains. That new housing in high risk areas has flood protection measures built in. That new shopping centres, car parks and other hard surfaced areas have high quality drainage systems. And also that we carefully manage our river, canal and streams that look so peaceful but which are capable of wreaking such havoc on the lives on people in our town.“