"Important to make sure the public bodies we have, work for and not against the public they represent"

Several of my recent 'My View' articles have discussed my priority to make sure everyone in Wrexham loves where they live, whether this be through regeneration of our town centre, ensuring that green spaces are clean and tidy, or by making our town safer.

This wish also extends to making sure homes and communities are protected from environmental hazards such as flooding.

Following Storm Christoph earlier this year, and the damaging floods the deluge of rain brought, I spent much time working with residents, Wrexham Council and the Welsh Government to make sure homes and communities across Wrexham are better protected.

In my work to help residents affected by flooding, I also worked with Natural Resources Wales (NRW) - the public body responsible for looking after Wales' natural environment.

You may have seen last week that the leaders of Wales' 22 local authorities called upon the Welsh Government to investigate the powers of NRW.

In a letter to the Welsh Government Climate Change Minister, Julie James MS, the Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA), the body that represents local authorities in Wales, said that "not all is well" with NRW and that the organisation is often "a barrier or unable to assist".

The letter also called upon the Welsh Government to assess the powers of NRW and to ascertain what alternatives to NRW might be possible.

Unfortunately, given my experiences working with NRW, I can certainly sympathise with the arguments put forward by the WLGA.

For example, one group of residents around Rossett Road contacted me to say they had found NRW to be unresponsive to their concerns.

In this instance, residents were worried about the flood defence infrastructure in place, which was designed to protect their homes from flooding but was not operating effectively.

The residents described how they had already been in touch with NRW to raise their concerns but had been dismissed.

So, I organised a site visit to see the issues for myself before raising the concerns with NRW directly, only to find that the body was reticent to engage.

Following months of wrangling, further flooding of the residents' properties and much hardship and worry, NRW finally listened to the concerns.

Now, with a dialogue ongoing facilitated by intervention from me, I hope these concerns and issues will be addressed.

In a similar situation, following Storm Christoph, a family saw 70% of their 300-acre farm in Isycoed inundated with water from the rising River Dee, resulting in extensive damage to the embankment and their farmland.

They also found NRW to be unhelpful when they asked for assistance and, again, it took a site visit by me followed by extensive correspondence before NRW would engage.

Therefore, given my experiences, I am pleased to hear that the WLGA has spoken out about some of the issues people across Wales face when dealing with NRW and I hope that the Welsh Government will take these concerns onboard.

To make sure everyone in Wrexham and Wales loves where they live it is important to make sure that the public bodies we have, work for and not against the public they represent. The issues I have faced and the concerns that the WLGA have raised suggests this is not always the case with NRW, which I hope the Welsh Government will recognise and consider.

As always if you are resident in Wrexham and need my assistance with any local or national issue, please make contact with me by emailing sarah.atherton.mp@parliament.uk.