Agenda item

To receive a presentation on the subject of the Worcestershire Land Drainage Protocol.

(In view of the fact that it contains information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person the Appendix to the report is not for publication and has been circulated only to relevant Officers and Members of the Council).

(Reports attached and presentation to follow).

The Committee considered updated information regarding flood and land drainage management which had been presented to them at a previous meeting in March.  Officers explained that they wished to provide Members with further information regarding the development of the Flood and Water Management Bill.  Officers explained that a report was due to be considered by the Executive Committee regarding guidance and protocols that the Council would need to develop to ensure that the Council complied with changing legislation regarding flooding. 

Consultants from the firm BWB Consulting provided a presentation to Members on the Flood and Water Management Bill 2009.  They began the presentation by outlining the key objectives of the Bill.  They explained that the Bill had been initiated to address some of the disparities in current legislation and that the main objective of the Bill was to clarify the roles and responsibilities of each of the organisations and authorities expected to deal with flooding and drainage issues in the local area. 

Members were informed that the Bill was in a draft format and was currently subject to consultation.  It was expected that the Bill would receive Royal Assent in the summer of 2010.  One of the key changes that the Bill was designed to initiate would be to enhance the role of local authorities in flood management.  There was an expectation that County and Unitary authorities would assume a leadership role in addressing local flooding concerns and co-ordinating the work of stakeholders involved in dealing with flooding issues.  County and Unitary authorities would also be expected to publish a strategy for local flood risk management in their area. 

The Council would need to consider several issues in response to the Flood and Water Management Bill.   Worcestershire County Council would be responsible for prioritising the use of funding to address flooding in the County.  Under these circumstances it would be important for Redditch Borough Council to promote the Borough’s priority flooding areas to ensure that these were not downgraded in any flooding prioritisation exercise that might be undertaken by the County Council.

It was suggested that, as rainfall and resultant flooding incidents were not often restricted to local authority borders, increased collaborative work with other local authorities was needed.  The Committee was informed that local authorities based in the South of the County had been working together to promote their flooding needs to the County Council.   Officers suggested that the local authorities in North Worcestershire should also work together to address cross border issues and to promote their flooding priorities to the County Council in order to attract funding. 

The Chair thanked Officers and the consultants from BWB Consulting for attending the meeting. 

RECOMMENDED that

1)                 the policies and procedures regarding watercourse dredging maintenance, drainage and landscape maintenance and drainage enforcement be approved by the Executive Committee at its meeting on 12 August 2009;  and

2)                 the Council work with other local authorities in North Worcestershire to promote local flood and land drainage priorities in order to attract available funding from Worcestershire County Council; and

RESOLVED that

the report be noted