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Newry.ie has been told by The Executive Office (TEO) at Stormont, that an Independent Consultant will lead the review into the catastrophic flooding that devastated the Sugar Island area of Newry and impacted Merchants Quay in the city at the end of October last year.
Close to three months after Newry Canal burst its banks, flooding Basin Walk car park, Sugar House Quay and into Sugar Island, frustration and anger has grown - as a result of a lack of information and contact from Newry, Mourne and Down District Council and local politicians - amongst the business community left to deal with the aftermath of the flooding
There is also anger at the failure by the Council to carry out a review into its response to the flooding - a review councillors sanctioned on November 6, last year, to be carried out ‘immediately’.
In that regard, Newry.ie contacted TEO directly. Replying to our questions, a TEO spokesperson said: “Due to the significant impacts of the flooding in areas of Co Down and Co Armagh in October/November 2023, and in accordance with NI Civil Contingencies Framework arrangements, a joint organisation learning review has been instigated to capture learning identified in terms of preparedness, response and recovery in order to inform future collective civil contingencies preparations.
“A planning group, comprising of key responding partners/departments and an Independent Consultant, has been formed and are currently progressing arrangements for the collection of a range of information including feedback from debriefs within the organisations involved as well as a planned multi-agency debrief.
“Stakeholder contributions [the business community] 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.
“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.
“The report and any recommendations will be presented to the Civil Contingencies Group (NI) to ensure appropriate governance and implementation oversight is achieved.”
Where is the Council’s review?
It should be noted, the review is being overseen by TEO and also covers the flooding in other areas outside of Newry, Mourne and Down.
It is not the Flooding Review councillors agreed to on November 6, 2023, less than a week after the flooding in Newry and Downpatrick.
They instructed Council management to initiate, when unanimously passing a Sinn Féin Notice of Motion that the Council was to carry out a “robust and comprehensive review of its response throughout these incidents should commence immediately.”
Where is that Flooding Review?
