Agenda item
Participation of the Public
Any member of the public, who is a registered elector in the District, is eligible to ask one question at the meeting, for up to three minutes, of the Leader of the Council, or any Member of the Executive on any issue that affects the district or its people.
Notice, together with a written copy of the question, must be provided to Democratic Services, either by email to:
or by post to:
Democratic Services, West Oxfordshire District Council, Woodgreen, Witney OX28 1NB.
Questions are to be received no later than 2.00pm two clear working days before the meeting (e.g. for a Wednesday meeting, the deadline would be 2.00pm on the Friday before).
A response may be provided at the meeting, or within three clear working days
of the meeting. If the topic of the question is not within the remit of the Council, advice will be provided on where best to direct the question.
The appropriate Executive Member will either respond verbally at the meeting or provide a written response which will be included in the minutes of the meeting.
Minutes:
Councillor Peter Higgs, who was the Mayor of Burford and a public participant to the meeting asked the following question of Councillors Lidia Arciszewska and Tim Sumner:
What are the latest plans of WODC to mitigate the frequent flooding in Burford car park, which has happened a number of times again this winter, with raw sewage released from Bourton-on-the-Water sewage works by Thames Water flooding the car park on Monday 6 January this year when the sewage was discharged into the Windrush for over 72 hours. Flooding limits parking availability in the town. It is already very difficult for visitors to find spaces to park as can be seen from your survey, and this limits the Town’s ability to support tourists who wish to visit our historic town and to support our economy.
The recent use of a small sump pump to pump flood water away has been completely ineffective, and prior to that, Burford Town Council had requested detailed improvements in the drainage system that were rejected by WODC, which we are sending again, so after the recent frequent flooding, will the Council now please now reconsider Burford Town Council’s proposals?
Councillor Tim Sumner, the Executive Member for Leisure and Major Projects responded:
The District Council recognises that Burford deserves and needs the best parking facilities it is possible to offer and we will work together with the Town Council and local businesses to improve the situation for residents, businesses and tourists. To date we have spent significant time looking at alternative options to meet the future parking needs of the town and will continue to do so.
Councillor Lidia Arcieszweska, the Executive Member for Environment responded:
The District Council has been in constant dialogue with Thames Water over the past 2 years, continually challenging them in regard to their record of ongoing sewage discharges into local waterways and rivers. The Council has hosted two Waterways Day events where Thames Water and other agencies were invited to present their plans to reduce discharges by increasing the capacity of both their treatment works and underlining infrastructure along with hosting meetings with senior Thames Water managers and technical experts to push for improvements across the district.
A meeting is currently being arranged, which the MP will be chairing, with representatives with Thames Water, where local issues will be discussed.
In regard to the effectiveness of the sump pump that was installed, it is important to point out that pumping can only be carried out when the river flooding has stopped due to the volume that floods into the carpark. The sump is only a small independent chamber installed to simply aid the pumping operation due to the need to submerge pump heads under water or to sit submersible pumps in. This is NOT part of a drainage system.
We are not aware that there has been any pumping carried out this Winter by Ubico, so will look to set up a more effective line of communication between the Burford TC, the District Council and Ubico to ensure a prompt reactive pumping service can be activated along with revisiting the proposals submitted by the Town Council.
Since the flooding, Ubico have inspected the car park and felt that it was in a satisfactory condition and the District Council have arranged for a sweeper to clean the car park early tomorrow.