After the press had their little look around and the politicians had done their walkabouts with and without cameras recording their shock and dismay, the Town Council held a meeting at which residents could talk to and listen to the agencies involved: Highways, Environment Agency, United Utilities, the County Council and South Lakeland District Council. Naturally, feelings were still high and residents expressed their views frankly and for the most part, calmly. However, they were forceful and clear. It was obvious that residents were aware that there were a number of factors which caused the flooding and that these could be controlled or removed to prevent a similar event from happening in future. The agencies, on the other hand, were defensive and knew it, and little of what they said helped those affected to have confidence that they would be working to improve matters.

Then in February we had a residents’ meeting at which Heather Shepherd of the National Flood Forum spoke. That was the turning point because at that meeting a group of 10 people agreed to form a flood action group to work in a structured and positive way with the agencies to make the changes needed. March 10th was the first meeting of the South Ulverston Flood Action Group. I agreed to be chair as I was one of the few people present who both lived in the area and was not flooded. This meant I had the time to do the work because I was not having to manage the whole business of getting my house back to a liveable state. For most people dealing with insurance, builders and everything else it felt like too much of an extra job.

SUFLAG took a little time to find its feet. The first few meetings we had to contend with other individuals and groups wanting to stake their claims on our time and direct the aims and objectives of the group to their own purposes. However, from early on it seemed clear to us that we have two main objectives and everything is secondary to those:

First, to secure funding to carry out flood surveys of all affected properties and to install flood resistance measures in those houses

Second to work with the agencies to make the changes needed to ensure as far as possible that there is no recurrence of the flooding in future.

In my view this is absolutely fundamental – to be clear about objectives and not to be deflected by other people. One of our problems has been a fairly steady stream of requests for articles and press releases about what we are doing.

From the early days we have said no because the only people who need to know about us are the residents and the agencies, and they do know. It is important to make sure that residents are kept informed and at each stage of the process we have meetings to update them. We are looking at other ways to keep them up to date as well, and we use the Flood Support Centre as a contact point and meeting place so everyone knows as much as possible about what is going on.

Another problem has been the continual request for us to have representatives from other bodies attend all our meetings. My immediate response is always, What for? We can share information with relevant bodies as and when necessary, but otherwise our meetings are by invitation only.

This is especially true of meetings with agencies because we want to have a face to face dialogue with them without distraction. It’s just us and them.Those meetings with the agencies are really important. At each meeting we create an action plan which we then use to help us keep focussed on what has been agreed and to monitor progress. The whole approach is very positive. It’s important that the agencies are not feeling defensive and under attack. I have had someone say to me, why should they have to be asked to do their jobs? This came from someone in an elected position on the local council (and it’s not the only such comment) and I feel it is just that kind of approach that can alienate the agencies. Actually, they are being asked to do a bit more than their jobs because we are talking to them about what we want to know, what we want to change and what we want to see for the future. This does not always fit in with the way they do things, but we have found they are open to having this discussion and trying to meet our requests.

Because of this more positive approach we are making concrete headway. For example, at our last meeting we were able to give the Environment Agency new information which they are following up. What our members have noticed on the ground, as it were, has enabled us to bring something to their attention that they were unaware of and initially sceptical about, but that they are taking the initiative to follow up. They are asking us for further site meetings to look into it.

Now, this would never be happening if we had not established this style of working together in a partnership. We have a long way to go but we are confident that we will be successful, and importantly, I think the agencies are also confident of our success and that it will be a joint success. That is in everyone’s interest. In future we really hope that we will not flood again, but we can’t stop it on our own. We need them and they need us. They can’t be here all the time and we are. By keeping them informed we increase their effectiveness.

For me the key lessons so far that I would like to share are simple. Keep focussed. The chair needs to hold that focus and support the committee to keep the focus as well. Don’t be deflected by other people’s agendas. There is always another group they can refer to or another body that can better match their agenda. Local councillors can be helpful but will run away with a lot of extraneous and irrelevant ideas. Keep them in check. Be sparing in your use of them.

Don’t let them take over. Never be afraid to say no. If you want to have a meeting with just the committee, then say so. Make sure that you share information with the local residents. Have regular meetings. Not everyone will come, but word will get around. Make sure that everyone understands that this is a long term project. The work with agencies in particular is on-going and any Action Plan will be a working document which is constantly updated as deadlines and targets are met. The process means that the agencies are continually receiving new information from us and residents have an important role to play in this. After the heartache and misery of that event, a lot that is positive has come out of it for us.

The SUFLAG experience is that it is very empowering to work this way. As we begin to see the results we are working for we are becoming more confident, both in ourselves and in the agencies we are working with. There is still a lot to do but if we keep our focus we will be successful. It is that realisation, which I think is shared by the agencies as well, that provides us with the impetus to keep going. We are all busy and we are often tired. Those of us still dealing with the practicalities of getting our homes back into a liveable state struggle a lot. But actually, I think feeling we are doing something helps.

Finally, never believe you can’t do it. When Heather spoke to us back in February she said very strongly that it works. This is proving to be the case. It works because we make it work. That’s all there is to it.

Julie Swinburne - Chair, South Ulverston Flood Action Group

(Extract from the National Flood Forum Newsletter - Summer 2010)

 http://floodforum.org.uk/files/Newsletters/NFF%20Newsletter%20Summer%202010.pdf