Flooding Review to be held behind closed doors - Businesses impacted not invited to contribute!

The Review into the devastating flooding that hit parts of Newry city centre last Halloween will be held behind closed doors.

The businesses, left devastated when the canal burst its banks overwhelming Basin Walk, Sugar Island and Merchants Quay and other areas of the city impacted by flooding, have not been invited to the March 27 review session in Newry Leisure Centre and will not be heard directly.

In a media advisory note issued by the Department for Infrastructure (DfI) today, Thursday March 21, it says that “A multi-agency [Flooding Review Planning Group that includes Newry, Mourne and Down District Council and DfI] review into the extensive flooding across the south of County Down and parts of County Armagh continues to make progress.”

It continues, “Work is ongoing by independent engineering consultant JACOBS as part of a joint organisation learning review to gather technical data and work with the Council and the statutory agencies who had a role to play in this flooding emergency.”  

The ‘note’ advises that the ‘Review focus’ is on “Preparation, response and recovery phases of the flooding emergency” while the ‘Purpose’ [of the Review] is, “Gathering of technical data to determine what caused the flooding, inform decisions on any viable flood defence measures in the affected areas; recommendations for a similar future emergency.”

Impacted businesses not invited

The Department says the ‘Next steps’ will be to hold a number of “Stakeholder group engagement sessions” on March 27 and 28 however, these sessions will not hear from any of the dozens of business owners in Newry who were directly impacted by the flooding as they have not been invited to take part.

Instead, “Stakeholder group engagement sessions will be held with local elected representatives and interest groups” in Newry, Downpatrick and Portadown.

Newry.ie understands that invitations have been sent out by the Council, not to local businesses directly impacted by the flooding, but to the likes of Newry Chamber of Commerce and Trade and Newry BID.

Newry.ie also understands that following consideration by the Flooding Review Planning Group, it was decided that stakeholder group engagement sessions with local elected representatives and interest groups would be held.

Considering the number of businesses left devastated and the many still struggling to get back on their feet, there is surprisingly only one session in Newry which will take place on Wednesday March 27 at Newry Leisure Centre from 9.30am to 12.30pm.

Behind closed doors

As if it wasn’t hard enough to fathom why such a Flooding Review would not want to hear the first-hand experiences of the affected local business owners, a lack of transparency and openness of the review will also be a concern with DfI confirming, “these will be closed sessions to allow representatives to freely provide experiences of the flooding event and multi-agency response to the independent consultant to inform the overall review findings.” 

There will be an ‘Open Day event in June 2024’, “to provide an open forum to respond to review findings” while “review findings and recommendations will be published as soon as possible in the summer.”

Assured inclusion

The exclusion of local businesses devastated by the flooding, flies in the face of a statement the Council issued to Newry.ie on November 13, 2023.

Criticised by the business community and councillors for a lack of action or warnings in advance of, and during the flooding, and the noted absence of senior management on the ground in Newry, the Council assured Newry.ie that impacted businesses would be included directly, along with other groups, in the flooding review: “A multi-agency review of unprecedented flooding in Newry, South Down and Armagh will be undertaken and published at a later date gathering evidence from emergency responders, the voluntary sector, government organisations, special interest groups - including businesses, community representatives and elected members.”

‘Opportunity to contribute’

This was supported in a statement, on January 17 this year, again to Newry.ie, from Stormont’s Executive Office, which said engagement events were being hosted to ‘ensure’, or guarantee, that those impacted by the flooding would “have the opportunity to contribute to the review.”

“Stakeholder contributions will be sought via written submissions and in-person at a series of engagement events, which will be hosted across both the Newry, Mourne and Down and Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon council areas to ensure that those affected have the opportunity to contribute to the review,” read The Executive Office statement.

“Details of the stakeholder engagement will be provided once processes, locations and dates are confirmed.

“It is intended that a formal report will be compiled by the independent consultant by the end of June 2024 and will be publicly available.”

Newry.ie has asked DfI why businesses directly impacted have been excluded from the Newry session and why it is being held behind closed doors.

Sinn Féin and the SDLP have also been contacted for comment.