Archived decisions

1. DECLARATION OF INTEREST

Members were mindful that, where they believed they

had a personal or personal prejudicial interest in any

matter to be considered at the meeting, they should

normally at the time of the debate declare their interest,

and having regard to the circumstances described in

paragraphs 9, 10, 11 and 12 of the County Council's

Code of Conduct, consider whether to leave the

meeting whilst the matter was discussed save for

exercising any right to speak in accordance with

Paragraph 12 of the Code.

Cllr G Hockley stated that he has a personal / non prejudicial interest as he is currently liaising with the Environment Agency regarding issues in his constituency.

2. CHAIRMAN'S COMMUNICATIONS

The Chairman opened the meeting by welcoming all present and gave a brief explanation as to the history which had led up to the committee establishing the Review Group.

The purpose of the review was to consider the effectiveness of Hampshire County Council's partnership working in relation to flooding assessment, prevention, planning and management, together with how flooding been dealt with since 2007.

3. ORAL EVIDENCE

The group received oral evidence from the following witnesses:

Jim Barker - Planning & Corporate Services Manager (Environment Agency).

Paul Fenton - Resilience Manager (Southern Water).

Kevin Fuller - Highways & Transport Area Director (Highways Dept, Hampshire County Council).

Ian Hoult - County Emergency Planning Officer (Emergency Planning Unit, Hampshire County Council).

Nigel Sell - Flood Incident Management Team Leader (Environment Agency).

4. LIGHT TOUCH FLOODING REVIEW

Members received a presentation from the witnesses on flood risk management.

(Take in Presentation)

Members heard:

· That flooding poses one of the greatest threats to the country in terms of wellbeing, property damage and disruption (ref Pitt Report 25 June 2008).

· That it is impossible to prevent all flood events.

· That 48,000 properties and 105 villages in Hampshire are at risk of flooding.

· That it is not about preventing flooding, but about understanding where the water goes following a flooding event.

· That there has been a lot of rain since July 2007.

· That there has been coastal flooding, a vast majority of which was caused by adverse weather conditions in February 2009.

· That groundwater levels have remained at a seasonal norm throughout the past two years.

· That the County Council has good systems in place to respond quickly to events and manage flood risk.

· That Hampshire County Council have introduced Strategic Flood Risk Assessments, have been continuously working on shoreline management and coastal defence plans and have introduced Surface Water Management Plans to help manage the risk of flooding.

· That Hampshire County Council and its key partners are working towards the implementation of the 92 recommendations in Sir Michael Pitt's report.

· That following the recommendations listed in the Pitt Report the new Flood and Water Management Bill has been drafted which Hampshire County Council has responded positively to, but still has some concerns about funding and resource streams. The Flood and Water Management Bill is expected to be enacted in the next parliamentary session.

· That with the enacting of the Flood and Water Management Bill Hampshire County Council will become a lead authority for flood risk management.

· That Hampshire County Council and key partners are setting up the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Flood and Water Management Board (HIOW F&WM Board), at which Hampshire County Council will be the strategic steer.

· That the HIOW F&WM Board will be setting up sub groups to support the development of multi agency Flood Risk management strategies.

· That the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Local Resilience Forum takes a strategic lead on adverse weather planning.

· That Hampshire County Council has a policy of not distributing sandbags to private house / business owners.

· That all flooding events effect highways, which can be a safety risk for drivers (especially when the flood water freezes).

· That Hampshire County Council Highways department are currently mapping the highway drainage system, including the type of drainage, to identify whether the drainage system is ineffective, blocked or in need of repair.

· That the drainage network mapping was being completed because the highway drainage system directly affects the risk of flood in that area.

· That Hampshire County Council's Highways department had received £800k in funding to help with 37 drainage and flood mitigation schemes.

· That Hampshire will never have the drainage capacity to deal with flooding, especially with the advent of climate change.

· That Hampshire County Council Highways department use the Environment Agency flood risk models to identify ditches / gullies at risk.

· That Hampshire County Council Highways Department have mapped 200,000 roadside gullies, some of which are identified for multiple cleaning as they are at high risk of flooding.

· That the Hampshire County Council Highways Department Totton depot have stockpiles of flood defences, these include: 4000 sandbags, 2 filling machines and flood barriers.

· That DEFRA has made £125k available to Hampshire County Council to assist in forming Surface Water Management Plans for the areas of Basingstoke and Rushmoor. Bidding for the Eastleigh area of Hampshire is currently taking place.

In response to the questions members heard:

· That Hampshire have enough clean drinking water in the event of a flooding emergency.

· That there is no direct member representative on the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Flood and Water management board, but the board will report to the Hampshire Senate.

· That Hampshire County Council and Key Partners have made information available to private home/business owners about the risk of flooding and what to do in a flooding emergency. This has included articles in the Hampshire NOW magazine and on the Environment Agency website.

· That some villages and parishes have worked together to create localised flood plans.

· That private home owners have a legal duty to inform prospective buyers about any risk of flooding to their property.

· That top tier authorities have power to inform land owners to clear ditches but do not have the duty to enforce this.

· That groundwater flooding prevention needs more investment in Hampshire.

· That local authorities can use Section 106 funding to contribute to flooding prevention.

· That a booklet was distributed in 2000 to parish councillors in Hampshire which informed them of what to do in a flooding emergency.

· That Hampshire County Council Highways Department have a responsibility for drainage and gullies, adjacent land owners for ditches and water companies for sewerage.

· That there is work ongoing to map the location of all gullies, as they are not all currently recorded.

· That drainage was listed as one of the weaknesses in the Pitt report, with one recommendation stating that local authorities should take responsibility for mapping drainage networks.

· That cleaning drainage gullies across Hampshire cost Hampshire County Council £2 million per annum.

· That the GPS tracking system that is present on the highways cleaning machines is not sophisticated enough to pick up if a gully is clean but relays if it has been visited.

· That local authorities in Hampshire are not able to redesign the drainage network due to funding and resource implications. Therefore other flood water storage solutions are being explored, such as using roads and private land.

· That a cost benefit / analysis needs to be carried out to estimate the cost of repairing high risk gullies in Hampshire.

· That after the 2001 floods, Hampshire flooding partners agreed to form a response group which included the pooling of resources and the pioneering of the adverse weather office, and, as such, have received praise at a national level.

· That funding for coastal defences are based on DEFRA priority scoring and currently Hampshire does not qualify for funding at this time.

· That there has been a low uptake of the Environment Agency flood risk warning system by those private home/business owners likely to be affected.

· That the Environment Agency are statutory consultees in planning applications concerning flood risk.

· That 90% of Environment Agency objections to planning applications are upheld, but should an objection not be upheld, the decision is transferred to the Government Office for the South East via a call in mechanism.

RESOLVED

1. That the guest speakers from the Environment Agency, Southern Water, Hampshire County Council - Emergency Planning and Hampshire County Council - Highways department be thanked for their contribution to the review.

2. That Hampshire County Council Emergency Planning Unit, (in conjunction with its Hampshire Flood Response Group partners), produces for all County, District and Borough Councillors a current handbook which contains detailed information for use in a flooding emergency, including key responding agencies, roles and responsibilities of such agencies and useful contact numbers / websites.