Mid Bedfordshire MP asks constituents hit by flooding to share their stories

Blake Stephenson MP has already been out meeting people affected by flooding, but said he is keen to meet more residents to understand the impact on their villages and communities

“But first of all they should make sure their local authority is aware that their home, or their business, or indeed their farm, has been flooded,” he said.

“And that’s really important so they know how many properties, and how many people, have been affected.

“Also, I’m really keen to understand from people their experience and the impact.

“So if they want to get in touch with me and my office and they’d like to speak to me they can either email me [email protected], or complete a survey on my website, www.blakestephenson.uk.”

Next week, the MP will be putting a report together to present to the organisations involved in clearing the flooding and working to prevent it from reoccurring. It will also be shared on social media, the MP said.

“So if people can [make contact] sooner rather than later that will certainly help my work,” he said.

When asked if he already had solutions in mind, Blake said: “I think there are some themes emerging, but I don’t want to pre-empt the work that councillors will be doing, and the council will do, and I’m going to do in my office.

“I mean it’s very clear that lessons need to be learned, we all want to do what we possibly can to mitigate the risk of homes flooding in the future.

“But one of the key themes is maintenance and as [was said] tonight in Cranfield, a lot of people are concerned about lack of maintenance of drains.

“I know that there was a huge amount of water that came down and has come down in the last couple of weeks.

“But if the drains are maintained we’ve got half a chance of mitigating these risks.”