Issue - meetings

(To receive a report from the Executive Director – Place which seeks approval  for the enhanced provision of temporary flood resilience measures in the event of local flooding incidents)

That the Executive:

1.    Approve the maintenance of a stock of 10,000 sandbags to be available for distribution in the event of a flooding incident;

2.    Approve the "Proposed new protocol for the provision of sandbags" as set out in the report; and

3.    Delegates to the Executive Director – Place, in consultation with the Executive Councillor for Commercial and Environmental Management, authority to approve arrangements with district councils for the collection of contaminated sandbags for disposal.

The Executive received a report which sought approval of proposals for the enhanced provision of temporary flood resilience measures in the event of local flooding events.

The localised flooding events which had been experienced in the south of Lincolnshire during December 2020 had highlighted a lack of clarity in the community, particularly around access to sandbags.  The events had not been escalated to a multi-agency response and were managed using existing local incident response measures.

Following these incidents, it had been identified that there was a need to enhance co-ordination during the event itself, especially if an unexpected event did not trigger the multi-agency arrangements that came into force during larger scale incidents.  As a result, a formalised policy towards sandbag provision by Lincolnshire County Council has been proposed which would set out to what level of resources could be expected and how this linked to the responsibilities of all partners.  Alongside this, a longer term piece of work would involve communicating with partners and communities about the availability and suitability of alternative new approaches which could be proactively secured by householders in advance of any potential incidents.

The Public Protection and Communities Scrutiny Committee had considered the report on 16 March and the Chairman of the Committee presented the Committee's comments to the Executive.  The Committee had unanimously agreed to support recommendations.  The Committee had highlighted that flooding was more prominent in some areas of the County and had queried whether sandbags would be distributed according to where flooding was more likely to occur.  The Committee was also pleased to learn that support would be given to elderly and vulnerable residents with the provision and positioning of sandbags when needed.

Following discussion by the Executive, the following points were noted:

·         It would be the preference of Highways, for all resources to be located at the depots and then delivered to communities when required.  The supply chains in place for winter maintenance activities would be used.

·         Sand bags would not be stored filled as they would deteriorate if they were left filled for any length of time.  The medium and long range weather forecasts would provide officers with some ability to plan.  It was hoped that most flooding events could be anticipated 3 – 7 days ahead.

·         This report was welcomed, and it was commented that with climate change, more of these events were likely in the future.

·         Officers would continue to promote alternative methods that homeowners could use to protect their homes.  Work would be taking place with the Lincolnshire Resilience Forum (LRF) on longer term communications exercises to encourage people to take up these measures.

·         It was queried how it would be made clear to members of the public where they should go for help in the event of a flooding incident.  There was a 24 hour Floodline operated by the County Council, and a number of new processes would be put in place behind the scenes to enable the new policy to be implemented.  A number of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 64