Having just returned from a full council meeting of Wiltshire Council, I’m sat wondering if the floods that hit Shaw and Whitley, some three weeks ago, after listening to Cabinet member Cllr John Thomson, ever happened.

I can’t praise Wiltshire Council staff enough for the swift action that was taken after the floods hit. Balfour Beatty and Wiltshire Council worked all over the weekend to clear mud from roads and clear ditches and drains, but the question must be asked why we had those blocked drains on Shaw Hill in the first place.

After the flood hit us both I and Melksham Without Parish Council received dozens of complaints from residents, all with a story to tell and rightly seeking answers as to what was to be done.

Once again Wiltshire Council officers have been first class, working with myself as local member, local residents and Melksham Without Parish Council to find solutions.

This is more than can be said for some elected members of the council’s Cabinet.

First of all, days after the flood on Shaw Hill, I invited Conservative highways Cabinet member Cllr Philip Whitehead to come out and see the problems and meet the residents, some of whom have lost everything. To my total amazement, he flatly refused.

I raised the issue of blocked drains at full council with Cabinet Member Cllr John Thomson.

The reply was staggering. He suggested that I apologise to the council for wasting the council’s time over blocked drains, suggesting that when council officers visited the flood area no blocked drains could be found.

If this was the case, I ask myself, why did a tanker spend a whole weekend clearing drains on the main Bath Road in Shaw and Atworth, and why are they returning again to clear the rest in the next few weeks in Whitley?

But there again maybe Conservative councillor Whitehead and Thomson are right and it was all an illusion.

Cllr Terry Chivers, Independent Melksham Without North.