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Anger over diverted flood cash
3:38pm Thursday 8th May 2008
Comments (3)
A FORMER Wyre Forest district councillor whose home was devastated by the 2007 floods says he is "appalled" by the council's "misappropriation" of money meant for flood defences.
The council is proposing spending £12,000 of the £44,000 donated by the Red Cross towards flood schemes on "reinstating" the public open space and playground at Wolverley Memorial Hall - an area unaffected by last year's flooding.
Nigel Addison, a former district and parish Conservative councillor and who contested last week's district council elections as a Health Concern candidate, said: "I am appalled. I was affected by the floods myself and know what a tragedy it was to people.
"This money could help protect people's homes from future flooding - that is what it was intended for. This is just wrong. It's political gamesmanship from the council."
Mr Addison said he had been calling on the council for many years to spend money on the playground but the grant was meant for flood affected areas.
He added: "This is a misappropriation of funds. If someone gives you a grant to improve your home and you buy a car, this is misappropriation, and that is what has happened in this case."
He explained: "I am not saying that the grant should be withdrawn at this stage but this money should be transferred from the council's general revenue budget and given back to the people it was meant to help."
Walter Delin, the council's chief executive, said: "It was considered that the grant presented a timely opportunity to improve an important community resource, particularly for the children and young people of the village to enjoy in the future."
He added: "The use of the £12,000 for this project has been endorsed by the British Red Cross and there is no question of a serious case of misappropriation of funds'".
He explained that the scheme was part of a wider community initiative aiming to improve and restore social and environmental wellbeing to the village as a whole.
Your Say YourKidderminster Shuttle
Tavis Pitt [www.wfa.org.uk], The Wyre Forest Agenda says...
3:50pm Fri 9 May 08
The Wyre Forest Agenda (wfa.org.uk)
Tavis Pitt [www.wfa.org.uk], The Wyre Forest Agenda says...
7:49pm Mon 12 May 08
(1) They keep a low profile, hope this doesn't get any publicity and hope people forget about it soon so they can get away with using charity money in this way.
(2) They keep the money as a contingency for any floods in the future, but pay any interest gained to the Red Cross.
(3) They do the decent thing and return the surplus money back to the Red Cross so other benefactors (in worse situations) can benefit from it.
The Wyre Forest Agenda (wfa.org.uk)
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ytcconsulting, Wolverley says...
9:23am Fri 9 May 08
I was a major flood victim in the village of Wolverley and to this day I still have not returned to my property. Like many in the village, we have had to take action to make sure our homes will not be flooded again, all at our own costs. I would like to see more of the fund distributed to those very much out of pocket through no fault of their own. The council and Enviroment Agency have done a lot of work around the village in clearing the watercourses but we have no guarrantees it will not happen again.
The repair and refurbishment of the Memorial Playing Area has been on the books for some time with the council reluctant to take action in spending the budget allocated to the recreation areas. Now they have received some additional funds, even though they are for flood relief, is wrong to divert to this long outstanding issue.
Flood relief funds means exactly that...for flood relief.