Thursday, January 24, 2008

It's been a While

Those of you who follow my blog will notice my absence since last summer.

During a family holiday in Portugal I took a bad fall in the garden and ended up in the ambulance with sirens blaring on my way to Faro Hospital. Somehow or other I had sustained a number of injuries to my face, mouth, my back and to the side of my body. I must pay tribute to the paramedics who attended to me on the way to hospital they were wonderful. On my arrival at Accident and Emergency, once again the treatment I received was first class.

July and August were really a blur and I spent most of the time in bed or resting. It has taken until the past few weeks that I have felt anything like working at almost full speed again. I still have to have some treatment to my mouth and that will all be sorted out fairly soon.

Hopefully my blog system will be returning to more or less full speed to keep you updated and I thank you for keeping up to date with me.

WE NEED A DESIGNATED FLOODLINE

To date the area of North Down has been fairly lucky with only minor flooding, but I know of residents who were concerned at the response they had when looking for help. They were passed from government department to government department and ended up buying sandbags from a local builders yard, almost as the water came to their doorstep. We cannot simply ignore the fact that flooding is an ever-increasing problem which can in a very short time destroy a home. With a little forethought help could be provided much quicker and easier to residents.

Unfortunately at present help come from 3 different agencies, Water, Roads or Rivers, anyone working their way through this system knows it is time consuming and frustrating. This is totally unacceptable, administrative madness and time wasting.

I spoke on this matter at some length at my Council meeting and asked that letters be sent to the Minister or Ministers concerned. We must as a Council demand that a 24 Floodline is established which would be a one-stop shop, providing immediate and positive help to callers.

I also requested that a letter was sent to every Council in Northern Ireland seeking support for the Floodline.

My plea for immediate attention to what is becoming one of the most serious issues at present was unanimously supported.