Flood minister visits Platt Bridge

Wigan Today

Makerfield MP Josh Simons in Platt Bridge, the scene of floods that happened on New Year's Day, as the flooding minister Emma Hardy and representatives of Environment Agency, visit the area around Templeton Road, Platt Bridge.

Transcript

00:00I'm Josh Simons, I'm the Member of Parliament for Makerfield and we're here today in the

00:05centre of Platt Bridge on Templeton Road that was badly flooded on New Year's Eve and New

00:10Year's Day. And I've been here after I invited the Minister for Flooding, Emma Hardy, to

00:14come and look at the damage that the flooding did and demonstrate that the government is

00:18listening and that it understands the scale of investment required to make sure that in

00:22the long term this does not happen again. At the end of the day, the scale of investment

00:27required to make sure that this doesn't happen again means that the major project, the Environment

00:33Agency, have been analysing and thinking about that needs to be delivered in full. That is

00:38the only thing at the end of the day that will protect my constituents who live on this

00:42road and all around the centre of Platt Bridge, but also will protect residents in Hindley

00:47and right along the path of the investment project and that's what I'll be working with

00:51the government to see over the next few days and weeks.

00:54So the more I've learned about what causes flooding, the more complicated I've realised

00:57that it is. So if only it were as simple as one wall. What the flood defence project that's

01:03required needs to do is it needs to install storage right away along, so that means storage

01:08in Aspel, it means storage in Low Hall and it also needs to include walls and flood defences

01:15along the course of the river and it all needs to be integrated. They've got to think carefully

01:19about where the water will flow. Now if that major project gets delivered, it will protect

01:24not only current residents, my constituents in Hindley and also here in Platt Bridge,

01:29it will also help to protect potential future developments in the South Hindley site that

01:34is in the Greater Manchester Strategic Framework. It cannot take as long as some have said that

01:39it might take is the bottom line and you know I need to do, I'm committed to trying to do

01:45two things. First is to make sure that funding gets delivered so that we actually get the

01:48project and that is not guaranteed at this point. It's important to underscore that.

01:52The Minister today announced £2.4 billion investment in flood defences across the North

01:56West. My job is to make sure that we locally benefit from that investment. So that's the

02:01first thing is to get the investment and the second thing is to make sure that the project

02:04happens in a way that residents will feel as fast as possible.

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