The Council of the Isles of Scilly has this week been host to members of the Environment Agency’s flood resilience team with a view to improving the Islands resilience during flood events.
A series of public meetings have been undertaken on both St Mary’s and the Off-Island to provide an opportunity to discuss and understand how our community manages in the event of an emergency flooding situation such as those seen during the winter of 2013/14. These meetings have given the Environment Agency the platform to discuss the feasibility of preparing and implementing local community flood plans, flood warning systems, and for the local community to feedback those issues that have affected them over the last 12 months.
The Environment Agency also took the opportunity to review the progress of recovery works at sites that were allocated funding following the Winter storms of 2013, including the emergency repairs undertaken by residents. The Council is working closely with the Environment Agency to use the allocated funding to carry out essential works and set in place plans to protect the Islands in the future.
Kevin Barnes Flood Resilience Team leader stated “Thank you to the members of the community who have given up their time to come to the flood awareness workshops and discuss the issues and challenges they face, especially following the experiences over last winter. We are looking forward to continuing our work with the Council of the Isles of Scilly to put into place measures to support the Islands resilience to flooding in the future.