Agenda item

An understanding of the activities that the Council is carrying out to manage flood risk in the county and determine whether or not these are adequate and appropriate to fulfil the Strategy’s objectives

Introducing the Wales Audit Office (WAO) report on ‘Coastal Flood and Erosion Risk Management in Wales’ (attached to the previously circulated report as appendix 1) the Lead Member for Public Realm emphasised that this was a national report.  The Head of Highways and Environmental Services, deputising for the Flood Risk Manager, drew members’ attention to paragraph 4.1 of the covering report which highlighted the main points of interest in the national report from Denbighshire’s perspective.  He also advised that attached as appendix 2 to the report was a progress update on the implementation of the objectives, outcomes and measures of the Council’s own Flood Risk Management Strategy, for members’ information. 

 

In addition to actions identified in the Strategy for the purpose of mitigating flood risk in Denbighshire other measures had already been taken in a bid to reduce risk, for example operational measures such as regular inspections of culverts, gulley emptying etc.

 

Responding to members’ questions the Lead Member for Public Realm, the Head of Highways and Environmental Services and Corporate Director:  Economy and Public Realm advised that:

 

·         ‘riparian’ in the context of the reports meant land adjacent to a river.  Responsibility for flood mitigation measures in these areas was usually the responsibility of the landowner;

·         they were under the impression that National Resources Wales’ (NRW) flood risk mapping system was amended to reflect any flood alleviation/mitigation work undertaken;

·         whilst ‘coastal re-alignment’ and ‘managed retreat’ were terms used in the WAO report as ways for managing excess water and flooding incidents in the future, there were a lot of unanswered questions relating to such proposals;

·         whilst the WAO report concentrated on coastal flooding and land erosion, inland flooding and land erosion was also a known problem in Denbighshire and as such flood alleviation measures had been put in place i.e. in the Corwen area;

·         flood risk maps were considered as part of the planning process when applications for planning permission were received;

·         planning applications for large developments, such as those within the Local Development Plan (LDP), would be required to outline both flood risk management and water management strategies/schemes within their detailed applications, as well as consequential impacts of their development applications;

·         the local authority planning process considered NRW flood assessments when determining  planning applications. Planning permission could be refused on the grounds of material flood risk;

·         it was too early yet to determine whether the eventual loss of European funding for flood mitigation work, as a result of the Brexit vote, would be replaced by UK or Welsh Government (WG) funding in due course;

·         discussions were underway with bridge maintenance experts on the level of work required to maintain the safety standards of the county’s bridges;

·         there were concerns with respect to the fact that rivers were not routinely dredged which increased the risk of flooding and of additional pressures being placed on the county’s bridges during periods of heavy rainfall and high tides.

 

Members were of the view that it would be useful if a partnership could be formed between the Council, local landowners and NRW for the purpose of dredging and maintaining waterways to reduce the risk of flooding.  The Committee therefore felt that it would be useful to invite NRW to a future meeting to discuss water management issues.

 

During the discussion the Chair asked members who raised matters relating to very specific local flood concerns or mitigation measures with the Flood Risk Manager and to report any known problems with culverts (including overgrown or obstructed culverts) to the Customer Services Centre so that they may be listed on the Customer Relationship Manager (CRM) system immediately and listed for inspection.

 

Additional questions raised during the meeting on the contents of the reports and which required technical or specialist knowledge would be forwarded to the Flood Risk Manager and other experts for written responses.  These included information on:

 

·         the AMX  system;

·         the number of gulley clearing/emptying appliances the Council operated and their suitability to access areas with limited/restricted accessibility;

·         whether the Council had a regular gulley/culverts clearing programme of works;

·         whether there was any evidence that insurance companies and/or mortgage companies recognised work done by the local authority/NRW in relation to flood alleviation i.e. lower insurance premiums; permitting mortgage offers in areas which previously were considered to be at a in high risk of flooding etc.;

·         whether there was sufficient capacity within the LDP etc. to deal with surface and drainage water coming from new sites in order to mitigate the risk of flooding further downstream etc.;

·         whether the Council had a robust water management strategy or more local water management schemes to deal with excess water i.e. one known problem that was cited was St. Asaph Business Park;

·         whether the Highways Department had a policy to divert surface water into ditches, as this then caused further problems, particularly when ditches had not been maintained or dredged.  A long standing problem in the Bodelwyddan area was cited as an example.

 

Prior to the conclusion of the discussion the Committee endorsed the suggestion to extend an invitation to representatives from NRW to a future meeting for the purpose of discussing water management issues, including the:

·         impact of coastal flood barriers/defences on low-lying properties and land e.g. in the Vale of Clwyd, particularly given that they would be at risk of flooding anyway during periods of heavy rainfall;

·         and water management guidelines/advice given by NRW on both domestic and business/industrial planning applications, particularly the potential effect of large developments on water management outside of the immediate area due for development. 

Members were also keen to have a greater understanding of coastal and river related flooding risks in Denbighshire, as well as having information on current and planned water management work (including ‘managed retreat’) with both public and private sector partners in the area. 

 

The Committee was of the view that elected members, through their community leadership role, could potentially facilitate all stakeholders, including local communities, to work effectively together to reduce and manage the risk of flooding in their local areas.   

 

At the conclusion of the discussion the Committee:

 

RESOLVED:

(i)            subject to the above observations, to receive the report and endorse the Council’s approach to discharging its responsibilities as a Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Authority and for carrying out the measures and objectives set out in the Local Flood Risk Management Strategy; and

(ii)          To invite representatives from Natural Resources Wales (NRW)to attend a future meeting of the Committee to discuss with members water management/flood mitigation matters and to explore potential areas where elected members and the local authority can work effectively with NRW to reduce the risk of flooding in local communities.