Hull Flood Aid - What's It All About? (2/2) By Michelle Dee

(1/2), (2/2).

The emergency services that worked around the clock should indeed be praised for their efforts to ease the suffering of the city - those same fire crews that fought so valiantly for a measly pay rise just a few years ago were out in dangerous and difficult conditions trying to protect towns and villages from disaster, rescuing the frail and elderly from the rising levels of flood water and raw sewerage. Serious arguments can be made against planning permission being given for building housing on flood plains - yet another issue that was highlighted just a few years ago when we had unprecedented rainfall across Yorkshire.

My point is this; the issues and challenges faced by Hull and East Yorkshire will not be met by the groups of working class families on low incomes, students who are cash strapped by University fees, college kids on EMA subsidies, and a free event or series of events, consisting of local artists and musicians held on the smallest public stage in the city (Mick Ronson Memorial Stage) in Queens Gardens this September.

I know from the experience of staging the first tsunami benefit event in the country that those groups mentioned above are the first to give of their time effort and meagre coin. The music community in our area, previously ignored and disregarded by the council (no funding for local music except for the box ticking so-called multicultural events Grassroots and Hull Mela) can raise significant amounts such as £4152 for DEC on January 11th 05, but only in comparison to their earnings. Someone who gives ten pounds when they earn a hundred a week is giving a huge amount, ten percent of their earnings. A councillor who gives ten percent of their weekly earnings, well that really would be unprecedented.

The idea that this event will raise enough money to help the victims of this flood is ludicrous. This event could only serve to bring communities together, to have a fun day and try to put some of the heartache and loss behind them. It could also be used as a show of public unity, to demand that the council spend the monies allocated by central government (and our money) in ways that are actually beneficial to the city rather than wasting it on hair-brained schemes on which we have no consultation and which serve no real purpose.

Lastly, two weeks before the flood, as I watched water being pumped away by fire crews on Boothferry road, I turned to the Editor of this site, and suggested Hull would be in dire trouble if they ever had a serious flood situation. We both speculated then, whether the proper provision and emergency planning was in place to cope sufficiently with such a situation. It would seem that we were right to speculate it seems that the planning and provision was most certainly not in place.

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