IN the wake of the power surge in Boscombe on Friday evening which affected hundreds of homes, local councillors from the Boscombe area visited many of the families affected.

We would like to publicly thank all those who worked together to reduce the impact as far as was possible to our residents.

A very frightening and disruptive situation was dealt with calmly and effectively by all and we would particularly like to thank Jane Portman, Managing Director of Bournemouth Borough Council, who took the decisive lead to ensure that any families who had to be evacuated were firstly taken to a local church and then to temporary accommodation, despite the situation being outside the control of the council.

Council officers did a magnificent job. We would like to thank all those who came out to co-ordinate this on Friday night until the early hours of Saturday morning, those who managed the situation on Saturday, Sunday and into Monday, making sure that the welfare of all affected residents was taken care of, arranging taxis to take them from their temporary accommodation to their homes to collect belongings, as well as co-ordinating with SSE and contacting landlords where necessary.

All these people worked way beyond their normal hours, across their weekends, and we must congratulate them on their professionalism and good humour throughout.

Some of us were also on hand to offer comfort and help where needed, including the leader of the council. We were very pleased to hear that by lunchtime on Monday, power had been restored to almost every home by SSE and the majority of appliances checked.

SSE have pledged to reimburse people for lost items and have been very helpful with the installation of a food and hot drinks van with many members of staff on site to offer advice and information.

Obviously we never want to see an incident such as this again, but it is plain that the combined expertise of our Fire Service, Dorset Police, SSE and Bournemouth council officers are very able to deal with an emergency most effectively, and we can be grateful for that knowledge for the future.

CLLR JANE KELLY

Boscombe West Ward,

Bournemouth Town Hall