Northumberland council leader calls for inquiry following 'unacceptable' Storm Arwen response

County bosses have backed calls for an inquiry into the response to Storm Arwen.
Cllr Glen Sanderson, leader of Northumberland County Council.Cllr Glen Sanderson, leader of Northumberland County Council.
Cllr Glen Sanderson, leader of Northumberland County Council.

Hundreds of homes and businesses across the North East waited more than a week to be reconnected to their power supplies.

Northumberland County Council (NCC) has pressed the case for a major review of services to ensure a quicker recovery next time.

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“I think it’s completely unacceptable in 2021 to allow so many residents to be without power for so long,” said Glen Sanderson, leader of NCC, who revealed his own house had been without electricity, internet or phone signal for five days.

“That’s why when I spoke to the Prime Minister on Saturday, I said, coming out of this, the one thing I really want to see happen is a full inquiry and I would like that to happen as soon as possible.

“I’ve been disappointed, frankly, with Northern Powergrid’s (NPG) business continuity plan, its ability to cope should there be another storm and, probably above all, the integrity of the infrastructure that is supplying power.”

Although full of praise for engineers working on the ground to reconnect supplies to some of Northumberland’s most remote communities, Cllr Sanderson demanded better of their bosses at NPG.

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Last week, council director of planning, Rob Murfin, suggested it might take NPG until the New Year to complete repairs after the firm was caught out by the scale of the damage caused by the first named storm of the season.

The delays have seen major incidents declared in Northumberland and County Durham and the army drafted in to carry out door-to-door checks on families.

Energy Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has said firms responsible could face fines over the “unacceptable” waits imposed on some households.

Cllr Sanderson added: “When we had flooding in Morpeth it was a similar kind of emergency and the Government and Environment Agency invested heavily in flood defence schemes.

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“We were told that flooding was a one in 100 year type event – we’re told that this storm is a one in 100 year event.

“We have got to make sure that investment takes place following this, whether that’s providing infrastructure for communities to run their own generation or whether it’s just to make sure that the infrastructure that’s there is fully fit for purpose.”

James Harrison