Spencer Court Flooding
This News Item from the City Councils web site @
http://www.newcastle.gov.uk/news-story/scrutiny-inquiry-spencer-court-flooding-events
Scrutiny of Inquiry for Spencer Court Flooding Events
Published date:
Fri, 28/09/2012 - 17:16
Newcastle City Council is to hold an inquiry into the flooding at Newburn, Newcastle, which has led to families being evacuated from their homes.
The Scrutiny Inquiry was called for last night at a meeting with residents to discuss the situation at Spencer Court.
The independent inquiry will form part of a Scrutiny Inquiry going on into flooding across Newcastle following freak weather events over the summer.
The council’s Cabinet Member for Quality of Life, Coun Henri Murison, chaired the meeting also attended by the builders of Spencer Court Dunelm and Northumberland Estates, owners of a culvert.
Cllr Murison said: “Residents have been understandably devastated by the flooding at Spencer Court, the surrounding area and businesses along the High Street at Newburn.
“Residents may have felt that they did not get the answers to their questions last night. I hope by the council looking into the events at Spencer Court we can start to make sense of what has happened and how all those affected can be helped while their lives are disrupted.
“The council is determined to do all that it can to support those affected and help the parties involved to rectify the situation as soon as possible.”
Meanwhile, an excavator moved into the dene behind Spencer Court today to remove debris from the mouth of a large drainage pipe to ensure that rainwater forecast for Sunday can flow away from the area and not fill the dene.
Demolition work on the most severely affected block on Spencer Court is expected to start early to mid next week. Demolition will take a few days - but it could take up to two weeks to also remove all of the rubble out of the dene at its rear.
The cost of clearing rubble and silt from High Street, Newburn, where businesses were also affected by flooding has been estimated at £500,000. The council has agreed to foot this bill in the short term but will recover all of the costs.
The access road and adjacent land is also unsafe, and any more extreme weather could cause further problems. So on Thursday, following advice from structural engineers, Your Homes Newcastle (YHN) had no choice but to ask City Council tenants at 18 households at Hareside Walk and Hareside Close to evacuate their homes. Unfortunately, they will be unable to access their homes whilst work is underway to repair the culvert and stabilise the land around the flats, which may take several months to complete.
YHN is working intensively to support the affected households to make sure their immediate needs are met and that they are able to access alternative housing quickly. They will contact tenants as soon as it is safe to access the flats to collect personal belongings, however engineers have confirmed that it is not safe to do so at the moment. Their technical team will continue to inspect the estate over the weekend.
Each of the affected households is immediately eligible for a one-off emergency cash payment based on family size. This can be accessed by contacting YHN's Investment Delivery team on 0800 091 1256.