Havering Council Playing Politics with Rainham Flooding

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Havering Council Playing Politics with Rainham Flooding

In response to the floods that caused so much distress to the lives of Rainham village residents, Jon Cruddas MP stepped in a year ago to bring together Havering Council, Thames Water, Environment Agency and Network Rail to coordinate efforts to protect the area.

Havering Council as the lead local flood authority is required to produce a report and recommendations arising from the August 2020 floods that caused Rainham residents to vacate their homes for many months. Despite promises from the Council that this would be completed by September this year, to date it has not been seen.

Jon Cruddas called a follow up meeting of the group for Friday 29 October which was to be attended by senior staff from the Council but the Council Leader pulled them out of the meeting.

Jon said: "The Tory council leader is too busy playing political games to care about the lives of local residents in Rainham. The safety and protection of my constituents and their homes is paramount to me, which is why I pulled agencies around the table in the first place. We are approaching winter and potentially periods of heavy rainfall, so I am calling on the council to cooperate. It was concerning to hear that Network Rail have not been consulted by the Council on the forthcoming S19 flood report. Protecting local residents will need the valuable input from all agencies to effectively resolve the problem.

They must produce the report with Thames Water, Environment Agency and Network Rail involvement and most importantly, set out a cross sector action plan to protect Rainham. That's what I expect and will continue to press them to do their duty."