Laxey flooding

[quilp]

Ah, but who wrote it? 

[Out of the blue]

4 minutes ago, Happier diner said:

And receive the many millions of  pounds that will be needed to do this?

To be fair, the government have finally been releasing the funds to deal with issues that have crept up over the many years of neglect. My only complaint in this regard is that they are using private contractors who charge extortionate amounts and who's work is variable in quality. I am going against my anti government bloat instinct to instead prefer a adequately funded specialist river works and maintenance department under the control of a single body, who could proactively address river way maintenance. This coupled with a legal remit and powers to compel private landowners to address any issues on their river banks. 

[manxst]

3 minutes ago, Out of the blue said:

To be fair, the government have finally been releasing the funds to deal with issues that have crept up over the many years of neglect. My only complaint in this regard is that they are using private contractors who charge extortionate amounts and who's work is variable in quality. I am going against my anti government bloat instinct to instead prefer a adequately funded specialist river works and maintenance department under the control of a single body, who could proactively address river way maintenance. This coupled with a legal remit and powers to compel private landowners to address any issues on their river banks. 

Is this not already covered by DEFA/DOI? Genuine question, I just assumed those departments would have the capability to do those suggested things? 

[Non-Believer]

5 minutes ago, manxst said:

Is this not already covered by DEFA/DOI? Genuine question, I just assumed those departments would have the capability to do those suggested things? 

It might have been once, there used to be dedicated DOI rivers/waterways and bridges gangs whose whole job was to deal with maintenance of such.

These were all disbanded and done away with under the last Gawne/DOI regime in the name of "savings" after the VAT reduction. DEFA appear to have suffered from the same policy.

Any work since then was sporadic and largely reactionary with the Laxey incident being the worst example to date of the result.

[manxst]

4 minutes ago, Non-Believer said:

It might have been once, there used to be dedicated DOI rivers/waterways and bridges gangs whose whole job was to deal with maintenance of such.

These were all disbanded and done away with under the last Gawne/DOI regime in the name of "savings" after the VAT reduction. DEFA appear to have suffered from the same policy.

Any work since then was sporadic and largely reactionary with the Laxey incident being the worst example to date of the result.

Ah, gotcha. Thanks for the explanation 👍

[Barlow]

1 hour ago, Utah 01 said:

1 hour ago, Utah 01 said:

Your starter for 10: name the band.

 

'

 

Drove my Chevy to the levee

[asitis]

Just now, Barlow said:

Drove my Chevy to the levee

American Pie

[Out of the blue]

8 minutes ago, manxst said:

Ah, gotcha. Thanks for the explanation 👍

As Non Believer correctly states, plus the other big issue is the ownership and management of river ways is not under a unitary body. From a government point of view a stretch of river, responsibility is spread over DEFA, MUA and DoI. Throw a multitude of private landowners into the mix, getting anything done isn't straightforward. A river and it's tributary's need to be considered as a whole, from it's source to the sea, overseen by one specialist body.

[Out of the blue]

2 minutes ago, Roxanne said:

Amen to that.

May I just randomly throw something in here... If I mentioned the word 'bath', would it mean anything to you? On flood day?

No, sorry - I generally take showers 

[TheTeapot]

5 minutes ago, Out of the blue said:

overseen by one specialist body.

I propose setting one up.

We need A Chief Executive, a director, 2 deputy directors, an operations manager for each river, an executive officer for the office, and 1 worker.

[Out of the blue]

1 minute ago, TheTeapot said:

I propose setting one up.

We need A Chief Executive, a director, 2 deputy directors, an operations manager for each river, an executive officer for the office, and 1 worker.

I further propose sub-contracting the one worker. Think of the savings... 

[manxst]

2 minutes ago, TheTeapot said:

I propose setting one up.

We need A Chief Executive, a director, 2 deputy directors, an operations manager for each river, an executive officer for the office, and 1 worker.

Whoa there. Let’s get the relevant paperwork sorted first....and don’t forget we’ll probably need an expensive outside consultant employed beforehand to see where all the money can be spent. 

[TheTeapot]

A 3 year £5m process before that single, sub-contracted worker can even set foot in a river? 

Excellent

[doc.fixit]

1 hour ago, Roxanne said:

You're right.  On this occasion they have.  But it took Laxey being declared a national emergency and being shown on film footage all over the world for it to happen.

And an absolutely raging crowd of Laxey residents at the public meeting at Laxey Glen Pavilion.

It was shame and embarrassment that drove this recent remedial action - nothing else.

 

It didn't help having a useless MHK who didn't appear to have anything helpful to say about the situation/

[Out of the blue]

1 minute ago, doc.fixit said:

It didn't help having a useless MHK who didn't appear to have anything helpful to say about the situation/

I had high hopes for him, but I am afraid I am sorely disappointed. It was a crying shame that Andrew Smith didn't get in.