Thursday 5 September 2013

You Foster Dependency, Then Complain When It Manifests…

… residents complained they had rung the council and been advised to visit B&Q or builders’ merchants to buy sandbags.
Yes, the Great Floods Of The August Bank Holiday.
Mr Cutmore said: “While I understand people’s frustration, in line with other councils we aren’t able to supply sandbags and it is up to the householder to provide their own personal flood protection equipment.
“Even if we had the budget to issue sandbags, there would have been no way we could have got them to residents quickly enough with such a large amount of rain falling so quickly.”
And that, for once, seems perfectly sensible. Doesn't it?
Residents took to Facebook to voice their disapproval.
One said they didn’t stand a chance against blocked drains and asked how people would-be able to get to B&Q while water rushed into their homes.
Another said the floods showed how woefully unprepared the council were in dealing with such an emergency.
Newsflash – the same council that fails to empty your bins properly or charge the right parking fee can somehow be trusted to cope in a real emergency? Seriously?

Sorry, but while the point about the drainage is well made, it's really not the role of the council to attend to these things, and where it is their role, you can expect the same level of competency and speed as with everything else.

So, sadly, you really are on your own. 
The flooding, which particularly hit Rayleigh and Rochford, adds further ammunition to the Rayleigh Acton Group, who recently submitted more than 5,000 signatures against plans to build 772 homes in that area.
Linda Kendall, group member, said: “It’s absolutely shocking. I went to some of the affected roads on Monday, and some people still hadn’t had any help from the council. People were asking me where to go for help. They were just distraught.
“People’s possessions were out in the gardens and on the footpaths. They didn’t know where to turn to. I left in tears.”
How about their friends and neighbours? How about themselves? What happened to the great British Spirit of 'Mustn't Grumble'..?

3 comments:

John Pickworth said...

You know, if I were the council, I'd go deposit 10 filled sandbags in each of their front gardens and leave them there... just in case they're ever needed in future. How long would it be before the residents then complained they looked unsightly or were preventing the Daffs from sprouting?

Ian Hills said...

Thanks to the kutz, I have to wipe my own arse. I blame Fatcher and the Zionist lobby.

JuliaM said...

"How long would it be before the residents then complained they looked unsightly or were preventing the Daffs from sprouting?"

Just how long is a nanosecond?

"Thanks to the kutz, I have to wipe my own arse."

That's the subtext of so many local newspaper stories, frankly!