The staff of Wiltshire Council have worked very hard to alleviate the effects of the recent exceptionally wet weather in the county, together with local volunteers. Wiltshire is the last county in the country to be on a flood alert and this means that our hard-working council staff have remained on duty outside normal working hours to deal with flooding for over a month.

These exceptional officers have undertaken these duties without payment and many have forgone holidays in the process and we all should be grateful to them.

The effects of flooding on our residents is tragic and these effects last much longer than the few days it takes to clear water and sewage away from property.

Our thoughts are with all the Wiltshire residents who are suffering flood damage at the moment. Wiltshire Council will continue to do what it can to alleviate flooding in the county but it is unlikely that we will ever eradicate it completely.

What we are determined to do is to continue investing more than £500,000 of discretionary funding annually in carefully targeted small flood alleviation schemes.

We will also continue to help communities wherever we can to keep the transport network open and prevent as much flooding of dwellings as possible and this includes special measures to protect vulnerable members of our society and key utility installations.

Jonathon Seed, Cabinet member for communities, campuses, area boards, leisure, libraries and flooding, Wiltshire Council.