A group of determined residents in Llanrwst have pleaded to authorities to take their concerns into account after the town was heavily flooded yesterday in the wake of Storm Ciara.

The community petition, led by Theo Williams addresses the Welsh Government, National Resources Wales and Conwy County Borough Council and urges action after a recent review on the effectiveness of the current flood defences was deemed beneficial for keeping the town safe. 

Critics allege that this is not the case and would like to see an independent review held on the issue. A shortened version of the petition reads:

As you are aware, Llanrwst Town and neighbouring villages have suffered from continuous floods for a long time. As a method to reduce the impact to the area you constructed flood defences in order to reduce the water flow into the River Conwy.

In 2018, Conwy Council and Natural Resources Wales conducted a review on the effectiveness of the flood defences and determined them beneficial for local residence, therefore no other actions were required, today is evidence that the flood defences are not adequate in reducing the impact of damage caused by the flooding.

Contributing factors, such as the removal of natural flood defences and new build construction in the area have no doubt contributed towards the increased flow of water entering the River Conwy and joining streams, causing the overall impact of the floods to worsen.

The flood defence in Pendre has a fundamental flaw, when the stream becomes heavy and carries debris, this blocks the rails where the excess water is suppose to flow into, reducing the amount of water reaching the River Conwy, however when blocked it causes a backflow of water which then overflows to the childrens park beside the defence. clearly being another factor which contributed to the severity.

Prevention is always better than reaction. Knowing that this storm was coming and not preparing by opening the flood defences prior to the downfall also contributed to the severity of the floods.

Sand bags should have also been prepared and placed in key areas in order to attempt to redirect the flow of the water, reducing the impact it would have caused to people's properties.

The impact of these floods has been detrimental. Businesses will no doubt lose thousands in damages. Their personal business insurance may cover the loss of products, but it does not account towards the loss of revenue as a result of not being able to open.

During this period shop owners will still be expected to pay lease and business rates. This puts our local businesses in hardship and impacts the local economy and trade. What can you offer to protect the businesses?

Homes have been destroyed, priceless possessions lost, families will have to move from their homes and into temporary accommodation and will not understand the full extent of the damage to their homes until the floods pass and surveyors analyse the damage.

Victims of this flood will no doubt be worrying whether their insurance will cover their loss, this could be a long and arduous process, how do you propose to assist these people during this time?

Some homes may not have flood insurance, what do you have in place to help those people who may suffer as a result? This will have a devastating impact on families.

Many members of the Llanrwst community and its representatives questioned the reliability of the defences last year, they requested action to improve the flood defences, this was addressed to the Welsh government and Natural Resources Wales.

Why was there a lack of action? Will the Welsh government be looking to compensate the area as they rejected to review the flood defence which left hundreds of people suffering.

Llanrwst and the local community have demonstrated their community spirit by coming together to help one another during this difficult time, but how often do we have to do this? Why can we not implement an effective flood defence plan that protects our community from the constantly increasing flood risks.

People who are vulnerable, such as the elder population, young families and disabled suffer the most, these people who depend on public transport and also other delivery type businesses such as grocery shopping, will struggle during this period as access in or out the area is almost impossible.

What services do you have in place in the area to help support these people? What measures were in place to ensure that the emergency services would have adequate transport access to areas heavily flooded?

The people of Llanrwst and local areas have suffered enough hardship caused by the floods and the lack of support from the council and the Welsh Government, with another announcement that the people of Conwy will be expecting another 9% increase to council tax, taking it to a total of over 20% over the last two years, can you explain what exactly we are paying for?

We demand that there be an effective plan developed in order to reduce the impact of floods, to better prepare the people with prior warning so those at most risks can implement measures to reduce the impact.

We ask the following:

That the flood defences be re-evaluated.
That you plant new woodland to increase the natural flood defences.
That you demonstrate to us how you plan to tackle this ongoing issue.
That you make ready sand bags whenever there is a risk of flooding to help residents and businesses reduce damages caused by flooding.
That you show the people the support we deserve, especially when you are asking us for more money to better fund the council to provide a better service.

Yours Faithfully

The People of Conwy Valley

Read the full version of the petition here.