Bid to stem floods issue in Norton

A new campaign to protect scores of houses and businesses in Norton from the misery of flooding has been started by Councillor Di Keal.

The Ryedale District and Norton Town Councillor has been at the forefront of negotiations with public bodies with responsibility for action to combat flooding in the town which has seen major flooding over the past decade which has cost millions of pounds.

She has now won the support of the town authority and will be stepping up her pleas for action at a key meeting next month.

She said: “I am asking Yorkshire Water (YW) and North Yorkshire County Council (NYCC) to work together to finally carry out a full-blow scheme to protect the properties in Norton that continue to be blighted by flooding.

“The flooding incidents are a direct result of the lack of capacity in the town’s sewers when the River Derwent is high, which leads to them backing up and discharging raw sewage into the gardens of nearby properties.”

Coun Keal said YW was “frequently” supporting major housing developments in Norton which added to even more discharges into the sewer system, adding: “There are solutions that have been developed and detailed in the County Council’s Flood Strategy for Malton, Norton and Old Malton but YW has not taken action. This is just unacceptable.”

YW’s current strategy report to fight flooding in Malton, Norton and Stamford Bridge says that without flood protection work, as many as 745 properties in the three towns are at risk.

A key meeting of the Ryedale Flood Action Group is to be held early next month.