I spoke at length to residents around the flood affected street in Huyton after work yesterday. The key issues seem to be lack of communication, consistency and information about what is happening. Many residents were on the streets, unable to go anywhere else while they waited for promised cheques for "inconvenience" from United Utilities.
Most people I spoke to know that the likely rise in home and car insurance premiums on their streets would more than wipe out the £100 or £200 being offered.
Afterwards I met up with the Knowsley Greens and our candidate in the forthcoming Page Moss byelection. We discussed what we could do to help, not necessarily immediately, but through the election campaign and beyond.
A quick numbers comparison to finish off with:
£7 million - the amount United Utilities spent fixing problems in an area that had previously had three flood events
£5.5+ billion - the total amount of profit made for investment funds and shareholders that a privatised water firm made between 1998 and 2010, when a more radical Labour government would have renationalised in the public interest.
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