Agenda item

(To receive a report by Matthew Harrison, Senior Commissioning Officer – Flood Risk, which informs the Committee of the Development Fund for Drainage Investigations and Flood Repairs and its progress)

Consideration was given to a report that informed the Committee of the Development Fund for Drainage Investigations and Flood Repairs and its progress.  It was noted that the Governance Document and Programme of Works were approved by the Executive on 2 February 2021.

It was reported that funding of £2.2m had been made available to address drainage and flooding issues in Lincolnshire.  A programme of works was being developed in collaboration between the Floods Team and Highways.  Implementation of this additional investment had been identified as £1.1m per annum for both financial years 2020/21 and 2021/22 with overall spend to be completed by March 2022.

Members were provided with the opportunity to ask questions to the officers present in relation to the information contained within the report and some of the points raised during discussion included the following:

·         It was noted that it was planned for Cherry Willingham to receive some funding and an issue with water gathering in an area known as Little Cherry was also highlighted.  It was clarified that water was collecting in the junction between Hawthorn road and the new estate, and was entering residents gardens.  A similar issue at Stainfield where water was gathering outside of some cottages was also highlighted, and officers advised that they would follow up on these issues outside of the meeting.

·         Members were pleased to see the funding coming forward, and commented that it would give comfort to many councillors across the county.  Concerns were raised with regards to the £200k which would be made available for sandbags and new technology to tackle flooding.  It was highlighted that further details on this would be covered by the report at agenda item 7 (December Surface Water Flooding and Improvements to Local Incidence Response)

·         It was queried how members could feed in intelligence regarding issues in their own areas to officers and the work programme.  Members were advised that this was a set budget which needed to be delivered by March 2022 and the programme of works had been approved, therefore there was little scope to add to this particular programme.  The programme was also being delivered with existing resources through the Highways Term Contract through Highways colleagues.  However, any drainage issues could be addressed through drainage groups or highways groups.

·         It was noted that a lot of the 'near miss' flooding incidents were being collated by the Flood Risk Manager and so members should continue to report any issues.

·         It was queried what work was included in the £150k contribution to the River Steeping catchment area and members were advised that this contribution was to facilitate the work set out as part of the Steeping Action Plan and included some of the suction dredging of the channel as well as supporting the programme of works being carried out by the IDB's and the Environment Agency.

·         It was also queried how it was determined that work would be undertaken for this scheme, and also how projects would move up the priority list.  Members were advised that the schemes were identified by Highways colleagues as well as the Floods Team, areas where they were aware of existing drainage and flooding issues, not necessarily just flooding to properties, but where there were also flooding and drainage issues on the highways.  The programme of work identified those schemes where attention was required, but where funding may not otherwise have been forthcoming as quickly.  This funding allowed the potential for those problem areas to be brought forward sooner than they would normally.

·         It was queried whether there would be any additional staff brought in to undertake the investigations.  It was confirmed that this work would be delivered with existing staff under existing contracts.  It was acknowledged that this programme of works was likely to be a challenge to deliver, but it was likely that it would be delivered effectively with the current resources.

·         Members commented that they welcomed the penultimate scheme on the programme, which would deal with a longstanding flooding issue in Kirton.  It was queried whether all the schemes had come from the Section 19 investigations.  It was hopeful that future funding could become available to continue this work.  It was noted that the schemes had not come through the Section 19 investigation.  It was running alongside other programmes of work and investigations.

RESOLVED

            That the progress with the Development Fund for Drainage Investigations and Flood Repairs be noted.