Verbal update to be given at the meeting.

The Chief Executive gave an update following the recent water shortage on the Isle of Sheppey being declared as a major incident. She explained that due to a burst water pipe near the Kingsferry Bridge, residents on the Isle of Sheppey were without water until it was fixed. Southern Water (SW) had fixed the initial leak, but upon fixing this, they had discovered a second leak was present and this was the reason that water had not yet been turned back on. The Chief Executive said that several Council staff had been redeployed temporarily to set-up an emergency centre at Swale House and to give water to residents on the Isle of Sheppey. She informed Members that the Council were liaising with several government organisations through the Kent Resilience Forum meetings and SW to get regular updates on the situation. She added that vulnerable people were receiving water and staff would be redeployed until Tuesday 19 July 2022 if necessary, but she hoped the situation would be resolved by Sunday 17 July 2022and staff could return to their normal jobs.

Members were invited to ask questions and make comments which included:

·         Complimented the Chief Executive and officers at the Council for the swift response, updates and providing aid to the residents of the Isle of Sheppey;

·         considered the Council did not have enough staff to provide water to all the residents on the Isle of Sheppey and should ask the army for help;

·         requested an update on the bridge closure;

·         why were the Kent Fire & Rescue service pumping water onto the Isle of Sheppey?;

·         frustrated at SW’s response to the leak and the locations of the water stations;

·         could the Council consider asking local housing agencies for help?;

·         had voluntary groups been asked to help?;

·         could the Chief Executive ask Swallows Leisure centre if they could extend their opening hours at the weekend if the situation had not improved by then?;

·         concerned that once this situation had resolved SW would pump all the sewage back into the sea;

·         SW were too concerned about their reputation, rather than the residents of the Isle of Sheppey;

·         once this situation had resolved the Council needed to invite Southern Water to a future committee meeting to find out what happened and their future plans on preventing this situation happening again;

·         the road network to deliver water was vulnerable and could the Council consider a different method of getting water onto the Isle of Sheppey?;

·         a similar incident occurred in 2016 at a lower scale, and SW should have reviewed their pipes then to ensure it did not happen again;

·         did the Council have a list of emergency centres if the residents of the Isle of Sheppey needed to be evacuated?;

·         situations like this caused financial implications and the Council had reserves to cover this, but expected SW to compensate the Council, residents and any other business impacted from this; and

·         emergency training should be given to Councillors on how to respond to these situations  ...  view the full minutes text for item 192