Climate Report - Hull and East Riding properties at 'significant risk' of flooding

HULL AND THE EAST RIDING have the highest number of properties at risk from flooding of all local authorities in England. In the last 10 years the East Riding has seen a 12% increase in developed land that that is considered to be at significant flood risk.

This stark assessment has been presented in a report published by the Committee on Climate Change who are independent advisers to the Government. The report Adapting to climate change in the UK comments on how well the UK is prepared to deal with climate change and risks.

“The results in this report demonstrate how a sharper focus on the UK’s current vulnerability to climate can improve the way we prepare for climate change. By taking steps to manage this vulnerability, local communities, businesses and households can save money today and reduce the costs of climate change in the future." 

Lord John Krebs

Points of local interest to note from the report are:

• Hull and East Riding have the highest number of properties at risk from flooding of all local authorities in England and one of the most rapidly eroding coastlines.
• The Environment Agency categorises a 'significant risk' of flooding as one where there is a greater than 1 in 75 chance that weather severe enough to cause a flood, will overwhelm defence structures or lead to their failure. The East Riding has seen a 12% increase in land at significant flood risk since 2001.
• Good practice is recognised in the Holderness District Local Plan which imposes strict controls on developments near its eroding coastline in order to reduce vulnerability to flooding.

The report sets out a series of actions, which if implemented more widely could reduce the affects and costs of climate change. These include:

• Flood protection - package of measures to reduce damages from flooding e.g. air-brick covers, door-guards and drainage bungs.
• Tighter regulations on new housing to improve their adaptability.

You can download the report Adapting to climate change in the UK from the Commission on Climate Change website.

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Waste Management - Procurement event

EAST RIDING and Hull City Councils are jointly holding a one-day event for waste management companies.

The event on Thursday, 9 June at The Guildhall, Hull, will be for local, regional, national and international companies interested in tendering for the councils’ future waste contracts.

The event will also enable the councils to identify potential suppliers and develop general market knowledge. It will also allow potential service providers to gain knowledge of the councils’ requirements.

There will be presentations from both councils about their joint sustainable waste management strategy, followed by an open question and answer session. Individual meetings will be held with interested companies.

The joint strategy is based on both councils working together to attain better value for money by sharing waste facilities.

Issued by Gillian Pattison, East Riding of Yorkshire Council
Tel: 01482 391450
Email: Gillian.Pattison@eastriding.gov.uk

Image: eRiding.net

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Rats! Is the rodent problem about to get worse?

RATS ARE A PERSISTENT PROBLEM in the East Riding. But while complaints about rats are falling - possibly due to severe winters killing many off - there is a real fear that the problem may be about to get much worse!

Official figures from the East Riding Council show a downward trend in the number of overall complaints received by them about rats in recent years. There were 2,443 complaints in 2007/08, 1,148 in 2008/09 and only 626 complaints in 2009/2010. However, there is a concern from public health professionals that problems with rodents - and other pests - will increase as public expenditure cuts bite into local authority budgets.

The Royal Society of Public Health brings together practitioners involved in championing public health and on the issue of Pest Control has warned:

Local Authority cuts will bring about widespread changes to the way pest control is delivered across the country. New and different approaches need to be found if we are to continue going forward in the way we deal with the pest problem, which remains at the forefront of the fight for improving public health.

Hull has seen an increase in rat infestation in its city centre and riverside areas in recent months - but the Council's ability to tackle this will be severely hampered due to the public spending cuts that the authority is facing. Is this a scenario - an increase in rat problems, and a decrease in funding to tackle them - one that we are likely to face in the East Riding?

Rats are considered a public nuisance. They can carry a wide range of diseases that are potentially harmful. Leptospirosis (Weil's disease) can be fatal to humans. Other diseases, such as Toxoplasmosis and Salmonella, affect both humans and animals, and parasites living on rats can present a further hazard. Rats are omnivores and will eat almost anything and they contaminate everything they encounter with droppings, urine and hairs.

Rats use the sewers as a convenient route to travel through - a rats 'tube system'. Yorkshire Water are responsibile for keeping them clear of rats, but there is also a duty on local authorities to ensure land and buildings in their district are kept free from the rodents.

The East Riding Council says on its website that it has no statutory duty to investigate or treat any pest infestations, and therefore only provides a chargeable pest control treatment service. It says that it can take up to 8 weeks to treat an infestation. Further information is available at: East Riding Council - Pest Control.

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Did you know...? 

BRIDLINGTON HAS SEEN MORE COMPLAINTS about rats than any other area in the East Riding over the last two years! 

With 111 complaints about rats reported to the East Riding Council then the seaside resort has emerged as the area with the most problems. Beverley was next in the 'rats league' with 88 complaints, Hessle had 85 complaints and Cottingham had 72.

This compares to only 13 complaints in Hedon over the same two-year period, while in Hull, between August 2009 and July 2010, there were 592 total rat complaints.

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"Bleakest week for a generation" for Housing Services claims magazine

Voluntary Sector Cuts map - Yorkshire & Humberside

INSIDE HOUSING has written a stark assessment of Housing Services this week in light of the impact of spending cuts with the onset of the new financial year. Scores of housing providers across the country face funding cuts of up to 45%. It said:

"Housing professionals have experienced the bleakest week for a generation as hundreds of projects closed or had their funding slashed as the new financial year started."

The weekly magazine for Housing Professionals cites cases in Hull where 20 elderly residents are having to move out of their sheltered housing scheme after Sanctuary Housing’s funding was reduced by £23,000 by Hull Council. Also the homeless charity Doorstep has made 10 members of staff redundant after the council cut its funding by £240,000.

The National Council for Voluntary Organisations published a list of charities facing cuts. Of the 454 cuts it listed - worth £74 million - "149 were housing related" says Inside Housing.

Read the Inside Housing article: Dark Day for Housing Services.

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Top Council Pay and Consultancy Fees - Subjects for Freedom of Information Requests

THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION (FOI) ACT gives you the right to ask any public body for all the information they have on any subject you choose. Unless there’s a good reason, the organisation must provide the information within 20 working days or provide you with an explanation of why this is not being done. The times when councils and governments conducted everything behind closed doors should be at an end! The FOI is a useful tool for ensuring public bodies are - and remain - accountable for their actions.

ANYONE CAN MAKE A REQUEST. FOI is not restricted to journalists or campaigning charities – there are no restrictions on the age or nationality of those requesting information. Applicants do not have to indicate why they want the information.

The website WhatDoTheyKnow is a very public way to make Freedom of Information requests. The request is made in public on the website, and the responses and other correspondence can be tracked and shared easily.

A look at recent requests on WhatDoTheyKnow brings to light some very revealing and useful information:

TOP COUNCIL PAY: After recent controversies about top council officers receiving high salaries while the rest of us suffer austerity cuts then most people will be surprised to discover (FOI request March 2010) that Nigel Pearson, the East Riding Council's Chief Executive is paid an annual salary of £170,067 for providing "clear strategic vision and inspirational leadership" for the authority.

HULL COUNCIL CONSULTANCY FEES: A request for information on payments made to a consultant working for Hull City Council (FOI request January 2011) revealed that between 4 January 2010 and 31 December 2010 one consultancy firm was paid £231,818.39 in total - a daily rate, including fees, of £900. 

Further information provided revealed that up to £1.6m had been spent by Hull City Council on 'Professional/Consultants Fees' in November 2010. Interestingly, the information on expenditure over £500 provided by the Council for December 2010 no longer included the sub-description 'Professional/Consultants Fees'.   The amount spent on such service areas will undoubtedly be of interest to those who are protesting that authority's £50m cuts programme!

Further information on using Freedom of Information requests effectively can be found on the personal blog of journalist and head of multimedia for Trinity Mirror Regionals, David Higgerson.

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Local Transparency – Council Spending over £500

IN 2010 THE GOVERNMENT set a deadline for councils to become more transparent by publishing all of their spending data over £500 online in "accessible formats" by the end of January 2011.

In October HU12 made a request to the East Riding Council to tell us when the details of its expenditure over £500 would be available, and where on the Council's website this information will be found? This request was first dealt with as a Freedom of Information request but was considered to be part of the council's normal operations so was dealt with as an ordinary query.

While the original query was acknowledged, the information requested was never provided. However, the East Riding Council has in fact published its local spending data: See East Riding Council Local Transparency. This webpage was tracked via a Government Press Release on its Communities and Local Government website.

Unfortunately, the East Riding Council data is published as a PDF file (portable document format) which makes searching the data very difficult. Hull City Council on the other hand additionally publish the data as a CSV file (comma-separated values) which makes for easier searching and analysis: See Hull City Council OpenData.

It is very clear which is the most "accessible format" - and the East Riding clearly needs to do better!

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More time for Councils to develop a Enterprise Partnership proposal

Image Wikipedia

FOLLOWING THE ANNOUNCEMENT from Government that the local enterprise partnership (LEP) for Hull, East Riding and Scarborough is one of those which will not be included in the first wave of LEPs, leaders of the three councils have welcome the opportunity to "further develop their proposals for a North Bank LEP with local business and ministers."

The initial proposal from the three councils was rejected following a split in approach from local buiness leaders. Some had called for an area-wide LEP covering both banks of the Humber, but the three Councils put forward their own north bank plan.

In a joint statement, issued by the three Councils, the Councils said that they would now be concentrating on a north bank of the Humber proposal that could be backed by the rest of the Humber, including local businesses: 

"We are pleased that the Government has committed its ministers and officials to intensive discussions to ensure that this area is best placed to make the most of its opportunities. The Government acknowledged the hard work we put in to meet the nine-week deadline for the submission and we now look forward to showing ministers how a North Bank LEP can work to a common economic purpose and how we can work with the rest of the Humber outside of the LEP. We will move quickly to ensure that we provide a submission that provides the best opportunity for our area, backed by business. We have received informal feedback on our proposal to say that the business voice was fractured, however we have more time to speak to businesses outside of the tight deadline. The Government has made it clear that as an area not in an LEP we still have equal access to bid from the Regional Growth Fund." 

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Council recognised in 'Best Service Team' awards

EAST RIDING council’s streetscene team has been given a customer service excellence award which recognises the team’s innovative ways of working (see the Association of Public Service Excellence website). The team were finalists in the Best Service Team: Building/Facilities Cleaning category.

Assessors were particularly impressed with the way staff work closely with communities to provide the services they want. Two schemes in particular were singled out as showing best practice. The first was a pilot in the Holderness area to improve service delivery by training staff to take on several roles in rural parishes. The second is a consultation with residents in an area of Bridlington about what they would like to see planted.

The pilot scheme in Holderness has seen staff who have traditionally taken on grounds maintenance roles trained to carry out a wider range of tasks including grass cutting, strimming and sweeping, minor pothole repairs, sign washing, litter-bin painting, and pruning hedges including those over-hanging signs and footways.

Small teams of around three were given specific villages in the pilot area to work in, which they visited every three weeks during the summer months. Communities representatives have been consulted on the work they would like to see done, and for their feedback on what has been achieved.

At the same Awards Event in September, Hull City Council were not only recognised as finalists in the Overall Council of the Year category, but the council-owned contractor Kingstown Works Ltd actually beat the competition to win the Best Information and Communication Technology Initiative.

Links: 

East Riding Council

Hull City Council

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Update on DONG Energy

DONG ENERGY has given a presentation (5th October 2010) to the Hull City Council Environment and Transport Overview and Scrutiny Commission on its proposals to build a biomass power station at Queen Elizabeth Dock. The presentation is available here as a PDF and below as a Scribd document.

Of interest is the size of the proposed development area which is described in the presentation as 92,000m2 - the size of 13 rugby pitches - and standing at up to 100 metres high, is expected to be the largest new building seen in the area for several years. By comparison the cooling towers at BP Saltend are 85 metres high.
DONG Presentation to Hull Council 5th October 2010

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