Council's award nomination for flood response
Allerdale Borough Council was nominated in the
Local Government Council Worker of the Year Awards for its
emergency response to the floods in Allerdale last November.
Finalists from local councils across the UK were short listed for
local government’s most prestigious awards, staged by the
Local Government Channel, in association with the Local Government
Association. Allerdale Borough Council
competed with three other councils in the Team of
the Year category.
Harry Dyke, Allerdale Borough Council’s Chief
Executive, said: “The dramatic flooding that occurred on 19-22
November 2009 devastated Allerdale; yet staff across the Council,
many coping with personal difficulties and problems caused by the
effects of the floods such as road closures and the flooding of
family, friends, and even themselves, came together as one team to
tackle the emergency.
“We set up an emergency helpline/contact centre, staffed by 20
people 24/7; some doing 26 hour shifts! Around 1,400 calls were
presented in four days, on diverse subjects such as sandbags,
missing people, arranging food, wellies and protective clothing,
barriers, a generator and mobile banking facilities, finding
accommodation, temporary street lighting, medical assistance, gas
and electricity queries, refuse collection and street
cleansing.
“Council staff operated reception centres at Cockermouth,
Workington and Keswick, rehomed those affected by flooding and
worked around the clock to help prevent the spread of disease. We
tried to make the most of our website and communications to help
people access as much information as we could.
“The Building Control team inspected over 700 properties for signs
of structural failure; 600 flood information packs were delivered
to affected properties. Seven dangerous structures notices were
served.
“We arranged for the distribution of 8,000 sandbags in increasingly
worsening conditions and once the floodwaters had subsided our
cleansing staff worked throughout the night at short notice to
ensure streets were cleaned of mud, silt and debris by daylight. We
picked up 1,000 appliances from fridges to cookers and collected
1,000 tonnes of bulky waste and flood debris.
“Legal and planning issues were resolved within 24 hours to build a
train station on Allerdale Borough Council’s land to link
communities in north Workington to the rest of the town. Council
land was also used for a temporary footbridge over the River
Derwent, built within 10 days by the army. The Regeneration team
and their business support partner agencies worked to get Allerdale
back open for business.
“So many of our staff went that extra mile for the communities in
which many of them live. I am therefore delighted and proud that
their tremendous efforts have been recognised with this
nomination.”