MARTIN'S MESSAGE TO MINISTER: CHELTENHAM STILL FACES REAL PROBLEMS

6.10.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Fri 27th Jul 2007

The flood waters may have subsided much more quickly than in Tewkesbury or Gloucester but Cheltenham still faces real problems from the water crisis. That was the message to Environment minister Hilary Benn today from Cheltenham MP Martin Horwood.

'The fact that Cheltenham was hit by flash floods more than by gradually rising river levels shouldn't obscure the fact that we still face real problems' said Martin, who has been visiting local homes and businesses and volunteering briefly at the Oakley water distribution point. 'We have still been flooded twice in a month and we're still without running water. But the emergency services and council staff continue to do a magnificent job, bottled water distribution points at supermarkets are working very well and Cheltenham people and businesses are responding brilliantly. Cheltenham Borough Council staff deserve particular praise on two fronts: for the assistance they're giving to vulnerable people and the support the environmental health team are giving to businesses, enabling some to keep open who might otherwise have closed down. The management at the Regent Arcade have also made huge efforts to support tenant businesses there and enable them to keep trading'

'But I've spoken to the Secretary of State today to highlight some of the continuing problems we face as this crisis is set to enter its second week:

• The water bowser system has all but broken down in Cheltenham with most bowsers apparently empty most of the time. People are understandably reluctant to flush the toilet with bottled water so the bowser water is needed. Severn Trent tell me they are trying to refill three times a day but the initial distribution was so patchy and the numbers still aren't enough for our population of 110,000. Once things have settled down, serious questions need to be asked. In 2004 defra said an urgent review of critical infrastructure was needed but this never seems to have happened. So Severn Trent were allowed to leave 350,000 people to depend on one single pumping station but without the capacity or practical plans to support them if anything went wrong for whatever reason.

• The distribution of bottled water to vulnerable people seems to have depended hugely on friends and neighbours and the Borough Council gathering information as it went along and taking a lot of the responsibility for distribution in Cheltenham at least. If we had lost electricity and many able-bodied people had been asked to evacuate, this system would have broken down too. Surely County Council Social Services should have been leading the identification and support of the most vulnerable? Do their emergency plans need a serious revamp?

• Businesses in Cheltenham have moved heaven and earth to keep trading through all of this but many pubs and food businesses in particular have had to close for at least some of the time and one has told me that if this carries on for more than a week, his insurance cover is unlikely to be enough and he will be in serious trouble. Many businesses will have suffered serious losses and I want the government to address their problems.'