IT is unsurprising that there are concerns about the response of the authorities to the serious floods that hit the district on Boxing Day last year.

We are now well into July, but Bradford Council has only just begun to collate evidence as part of a review into how various agencies, including the Council itself, dealt with the devastating floods.

The Council agreed to conduct this review in January but meetings to gather information from those affected have only just started.

In stark contrast, neighbouring Calderdale Council has not only completed its evidence gathering process, it has published a final report outlining not only the causes and the impact, but also the authority’s response.

Part of the issue may be that the flooding did not seem to have as much impact here as it did in say York or Hebden Bridge.

But that doesn’t make it any easier for those devastated by the flooding which did hit parts of the district who are still counting the cost – and dreading the possibility of a recurrence.

The businesses and individuals who suffered damage when the River Aire burst its banks desperately want to know what is being done to reduce the risk of it happening again.

The Council said the right things when it committed to a report immediately after the flooding, but subsequent delays in collecting information and pulling it together have sadly negated the credit it gained for this.

It must now pull its finger out and get on with completing this process as quickly as possible. The householders and business folk left devastated by the flooding deserve this at the very least.