Agenda and minutes

Councillor Azad Choudhry – leave

Councillor Gul Khan – leave

 

Beverley Frost

None.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 9 November 2016

The minutes of the meeting held on 9 November 2016 were confirmed and signed by the Chair.

Report of the Corporate Director for Strategy and Resources

Chris Capewell, Highway Engineering – Technical Lead, Nottingham City Council, Paul Lockhart, East Midlands Area Flood Risk Manager, Environment Agency, and Adam Boucher, Wholesale Operations Waste Team Manager, Severn Trent Water, attended the meeting to review the progress of the implementation of the Nottingham Local Flood Risk Management Strategy (LFRMS).

 

Chris Capewell presented the Committee with the following information:

 

(a)  the LFRMS was prepared in consultation with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders over an 18 month period. It was reviewed by this Committee in February 2015, and approved by Full Council in March 2015. It focuses on local flood risk and the importance of interaction with other risk management authorities, specifically the Environment Agency and Severn Trent Water;

 

(b)  the LFRMS contains:

·  how risk management authorities will work together to reduce flood risk to citizens;

·  the statutory duties of Nottingham City Council as Lead Local Flood Authority;

·  maintenance of existing flood risk management assets;

·  engagement with communities at risk of flooding;

·  the capital investment programme to reduce the risk of flooding to citizens;

 

(c)  the action plan covers:

·  statutory duties such as:

o  the use of new powers, eg the specific designation of a flood wall at Moore’s Place;

o  being a statutory consultee on major planning applications;

o  section 19 investigations;

·  asset management, including:

o  effective gulley cleaning;

o  clearing grills on watercourses

·  community engagement and providing assistance to communities;

 

(d)  capital investment includes:

·  a city-wide property level protection programme:

o  in Phase 1 30 properties in Top Valley have been protected through flood resistant front and patio doors (tested to 600mm depth of water), smart air bricks and non-return valves. These have been fully paid for by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), but are now the responsibility of the owners;

o  the second phase is currently in procurement and construction is likely in April/May 2017;

o  both phases include the treatment of all properties that flooded in 2013 and, although gardens may still flood, the houses should remain dry;

o  garages won’t be protected unless they are integral with living accommodation;

·  Woolsington Close, Strelley:

o  the introduction of a surface water management scheme which routes water away from the properties into open space in Broxtowe Country Park;

o  an earth bund has been created across green open space, kerb levels have been raised, and other areas of open space have been lowered to store flood water;

o  the properties are protected up to a 1 in 75 standard;

·  the 2016/17 programme of works:

o  Phase 2 of the property level resilience work;

o  a potential scheme at Colmon Close, Top Valley;

o  a joint surface water management scheme with Severn Trent Water in Mapperley Park;

·  future years:

o  there is a 6 year flood defence programme managed by the Environment Agency on behalf of Defra;

o  the Environment Agency are leading on the Day Brook flood alleviation scheme;

o  there is potential European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) money for environmental improvements, including flood risk reduction benefits, in the Day Brook catchment , and on the River Leen at Bobbers Mill;

·  longer term schemes (beyond 2021):

o  Broxtowe Park Brook capital maintenance;

o  Tottle Brook flood alleviation scheme;

o  River Leen, Bobbers Mills, flood alleviation scheme;

 

(e)  it is a legislative requirement to review progress against the LFRMS action plan, and this is done on a regular basis.

 

In response to questions from the Committee, Chris Capewell, Paul Lockhart, and Adam Boucher provided the following additional information:

 

(f)  flood defence grant and aid money is provided by central government. There is a partnership funding system in place for all schemes, and each authority pays a local levy which is also used for schemes;

 

(g)  all flood risk is rated. The intention is for flood alleviation schemes to be built to a 1 in 100 year standard, but this depends on affordability and effectiveness. Where it isn’t possible to achieve a 1 in 100 year standard, effort is made to achieve a 1 in 75 year standard as properties are considered high risk for insurance purposes if this isn’t achievable;

 

(h)  modelling work is being done on Tottle Brook to establish the causes of flooding. Once this has been completed solutions will be investigated;

 

(i)  natural remedies are favoured, such as storage ponds, meanders, etc;

 

(j)  summer 2018 will be the earliest for  improvements in Mapperley Park, as  the scheme is currently at stage 1 of modelling;

 

(k)  the flood team within the Council try to comment on all planning applications, but are only a statutory consultee on major applications. Changes in surfaces have an impact on flooding and the team try to highlight this on all developments. Many citizens aren’t aware that they require planning permission to pave over their lawn due to the impact it has on flooding.

 

Paul Lockhart presented the Committee with the following information:

 

(l)  a national flood resilience review has been undertaken in response to the record breaking rainfall in December 2015;

 

(m)  during the winter flood events from storms Desmond, Eva and Frank, the river level gauges with the highest level recorded represented over 10% of the national gauge network, and covered the whole of the north of England;

 

(n)  over 340mm rainfall was recorded during the flooding, and anything over 30mm in Nottingham would cause concern. New flood defences were built in Nottingham between 2009 and 2012, but the City is still vulnerable to large floods. The City has a low probability for flooding, but it would have a high impact and could result in the evacuation of of 16,000 properties (over 50,000 people);

 

(o)  the national flood resilience review is being carried out by a ministerial group and covers modelling weather and floods, locally significant infrastructure, incident response, and future investment;

 

(p)  in relation to modelling weather and floods:

·  case studies have been used and validated by the Scientific Advisory Group to show flooding within an Extreme Flood Outline (EFO);

·  recommendations have been made to develop new approaches to communicate the scale and likelihood of severe flooding;

 

(q)  in relation to locally significant infrastructure:

·  work is being done to map energy, water, telecoms, health and transport infrastructure assets within the EFO;

·  the standards of flood protection and resilience are being assessed, including the potential for using temporary barriers;

·  voluntary agreements with water, telecoms, and electricity companies are being sought;

 

(r)  in relation to future investment in core cities:

·  Liverpool, Manchester and Newcastle meet or exceed London’s standard of protection from rivers and sea;

·  some further investment is needed in Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Nottingham and Sheffield;

·  the advisory group will identify innovative and self-funding solutions;

 

(s)  in relation to incident response:

·  proactive steps have been taken to improve incident response to complement the national flood risk review:

o  signing a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Defence to enable fast and effective deployment;

o  an increase in the amount of temporary defence assets available to deploy around the country;

o  further development of incident response procedures to make it easier to send resources to where they’re most needed;

·  improvements will continue to be made, but some will be dependent on money being available;

 

(t)  the next steps include:

·  the ministerial group will continue to oversee implementation;

·  work on a longer term strategy has begun, which will be informed by the review.

 

In response to questions from the Committee, Chris Capewell, Paul Lockhart, and Adam Boucher provided the following additional information:

 

(u)  dredging works in deeper water, but is less effective in shallower levels so wouldn’t be effective in Nottingham;

 

(v)  the city has a lot of older drainage systems which are replaced or rehabilitated when the structural integrity is compromised. The network is monitored to ensure that works are timed correctly and cause minimal disruption;

 

(w)  there is a programme of inspection for fast food takeaways to ensure that they are disposing of fat, etc correctly, as blockages cause major problems in the drainage network;

 

(x)  hydraulic flooding schemes are used to strengthen the network to increase its capability during heavy rain;

 

(y)  there is a programme of scheduled work for the sewage system;

 

(z)  if properties are still at risk of flooding once work to the area has been completed, they are offered property level protection too;

 

(aa)  communities need to be proactive in ensuring that flood risk is minimised by moving parked cars so that gulleys can be cleared, etc.

 

RESOLVED to

 

(1)  thank Chris Capewell, Paul Lockhart and Adam Boucher for their attendance;

 

(2)  recommend that the Planning Committee consider how to increase awareness of flood risk in planning applications.

Report of the Corporate Director for Strategy and Resources

Laura Wilson, Senior Governance Officer introduced the report setting out the programme of activity for this Committee and the Overview and Scrutiny Review Panels for 2016/17.

 

RESOLVED to agree the work programme for the Overview and Scrutiny Committee and Review Panels for 2016/17.