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Central and Local Government work together to helping Cumbrian communities recover
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"08/02/2010
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Since communities in Cumbria suffered devastating flooding in November 2009, Ministers and officials have been in regular contact with the local area to ensure Government does all it can to support their recovery.
Government and the North West Development Agency has provided direct financial assistance in addition to support and advice to the Cumbria area. For example, the £1 million Community Recovery Grant for local authorities to use to help local people and businesses, the £2.95 million worth of schemes to provide assistance to businesses, the farming and tourism industries along with funding and additional support to the local authorities.
The Government has also provided support to Cumbria County Council to help them respond to the significant transport challenges they face. Steps were taken quickly to restore transport links to the communities either side of the River Derwent at Workington. A temporary rail station has opened at North Workington and a free shuttle service until May 2010 has been introduced, funded by the Department for Transport at a cost of over £1m.
These transport links were further enhanced by construction of a temporary footbridge at Workington built by the Army and jointly funded by the DfT and Ministry of Defence at a cost of approximately £1m. Dft has also provided funding for short term project management support to Cumbria County Council to assist them to develop and begin to implement their transport recovery plan.
This has assisted Cumbria to take forward their plans for the temporary road bridge at Workington, plans for which are underway. Dft continue to work closely with Cumbria on taking forward their recovery plan, including supporting them in accessing further funding for repairs to roads and bridges.
At a local level, recovery is driven by the Recovery Co-ordination Group – chaired by Cumbria County Council’s Director of Environment, Marie Fallon. Supported by a range of other groups looking at particular issues such as the welfare of local people, the impact on business and agriculture and environmental issues, they are implementing an agreed programme of work to return the area to normality as soon as possible.
Central Government action has been co-ordinated through a cross-departmental Ministerial committee, chaired by Rosie Winterton, Minister for Local Government, bringing together ministers from a range of departments including DfT, BIS, Defra, MoD, DCMS, DWP and DCSF. This committee meets regularly to ensure that issues are quickly identified and addressed and that central Government continues to be actively engaged in supporting the affected communities.
Ministers are joined by the LGA and the Chief Executive of Cumbria County Council. Regular progress reports are provided to the Prime Minister who continues to take a close interest in their work.
The Ministerial committee is supported by an officials group which manages the detailed work programme, advises Ministers on current and emerging issues and ensures that decisions are followed through.
These arrangements, coupled with liaison with local councillors and Members of Parliament, ensures that the council are able to keep Ministers directly informed of progress, and more importantly allows Cumbria County Council to speedily bring matters to national attention.
The Ministerial committee met again last week to look at what progress had been made so far, what else needed to be done and to check whether any additional problems had arisen as a result of the recent severe weather.
At this meeting Cumbria County Council CEO Jill Stannard paid tribute to the people in Cumbria and explained that although the snow and ice had been particularly severe in the area over recent weeks, that those who live and work in Cumbria are used to harsh winters and are very resilient. Therefore whilst there had been some delays to recovery progress – these were generally limited.
During this meeting Jill was also able to pass on local people and business leaders’ satisfaction for the speedy dredging and reopening of Workington Port.
In addition to the comprehensive Government funding package which has been negotiated and agreed as a result of previous meetings, Jill and Ministers discussed the need to make quick progress on repairing rights of way within the national park, which are so important in terms of attracting visitors to the area. Huw Irranca-Davies, Minister for Marine and Natural Environment, confirmed that his department had agreed to supplement any funding from other sources so that that the National Park Authority would have access to at £250,000 this financial year.
There was a detailed discussion about progress with delivering the temporary road bridge which is needed to keep Workington moving in advance of the lengthy process for building a permanent structure. Through this discussion it was clear just how many issues are involved – the need to help local people and businesses get back to normal as soon as possible, getting value for tax payers money, balancing the speed of any solution against many practical and more technical aspects.
It was agreed that it would be helpful if some of the more technical aspects could be explained and to this end Jill Standard said she would look to provide local politicians and journalists with detailed briefing about the challenges involved, liaising with the Department for Transport (DfT) where this would be helpful. All agreed that the sooner a solution could be put in place the better for everyone.
Updates were also provided about the support being provided to the wide range of businesses represented in the area whether by way of direct financial support and advice and guidance. More widely, by supporting advertising and marketing activities to help ensure potential tourists are not put off by encouraging media to portray the area as ‘open for businesses.
Rosie Winterton, Cumbria Flood Recovery Minister said: “Cumbria County Council is leading the recovery, working with the regional and local agencies and partners who are all doing a fantastic job.
Local officers, leaders and politicians are of course the best people to make decisions and take things forward in they way that is best for their area, but sometimes significant events of this type are beyond the resources of local areas and they need our financial assistance and experience to ensure they can recover as quickly as possible.
Government has provided significant amounts of financial support as well as help and guidance. I and fellow ministers have been and will continue to be in direct contact with the local area to find out what is required and then putting in place what is needed to make it happen.”
Jill Stannard CEO Cumbria County Council said “You cannot under estimate the impact that this terrible event has had on the people in Cumbria. But the way we have been able to work with local agencies and central government has, I believe, really helped things along. I am sure had this not been the case we wouldn’t have been able to cut through the red tape to get the army on board to give us our footbridge, nor would we have been able to secure the funding to help all aspects of the community so quickly with the promise of further consideration of what we need that Government can help us with.
It has also really helped me when I speaking to local people to be able to explain with first hand knowledge just what the Government can and can’t do to help us.”
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