I had a very positive day with Cllr Taila Taylor in Attleborough last Friday seeing the completion of the clearance of the two culverts. 

A  great effort by the Norfolk Strategic Flood Alliance (NSFT) as the combined forces of Attleborough Town Council, Breckland Council, Norfolk County Council, Anglian Water and I as the MP came together to address and deal with the terrible flooding issues that beset us last winter. All agencies must work together to ensure it never happens again.

An initial meeting has also been held amongst the riparian owners and a positive discussion took place about setting up a residents association to fund future maintenance now that the culverts are back to as-built condition. There will be further updates on this in the coming weeks. 

Now that Parliament is back after the summer recess I am picking up my flooding bill once again. The bill will be proposing to change the law on planning and flooding liabilities to ensure developers, water companies and other key stakeholders cannot shirk their responsibilities. Unfortunately, I was not successful in the recent Private Members Bill ballot, but there will be other opportunities to introduce this to Parliament in the near future.

Finally due to the election the flooding prevention summit had to be cancelled and I am pleased to report that we are looking at holding this early in the new year. This will be an opportunity for the NSFA and all MPs in Norfolk to hold the c.35 statutory flooding authorities to account and ensure we are coordinating the support for the many communities affected by flooding in our county.