Agenda item

(To receive a report from Paul Brookes, Flood Risk Manager, which informs the Committee of the status of all current flood investigations being undertaken in the County)

Consideration was given to a report which informed the Committee of the status of all current flood investigations being undertaken in the County.  It was noted that in comparison with 2019, 2020 had been relatively quiet in terms of Section 19 Flood Investigations, although the numbers were still significantly above average.  It was also highlighted that it had been a particularly busy couple of years, which had impacted on the amount of time it was taking to complete reports.  It was noted that it was the complexity of some of the investigations as well as the volume of investigations which was causing a delay.  However, the reports were now starting to come through. 

It was reported that officers had taken the step of reviewing how the investigations were carried out, in order to give a more proportionate response, for example where the cause was clear or there were minor consequences.  It was hoped that this would speed up the process around completing investigations.

It was also reported that there was a new way of providing the information on the current flood investigations available through the website and it was hoped that members had had the opportunity to have a look at this.

(NOTE: Councillor R Austin left the meeting at 11.26am)

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 commented that the opportunity to interrogate a live report was welcomed, and the amount of work which had gone into creating this was appreciated. 

·         It was highlighted that there were some reports for Horncastle on the list which had been active for nine years, and it was suggested whether these needed to be brought to a close quickly so they could be removed from the list.  Members were advised that there was confidence that a number of the older investigations would be completed in the near future, and following the review of the way investigations were completed, there should be a greater number of investigations which would be completed in a more timely manner.

·         The work which was ongoing in this area was supported, and it was acknowledged most investigations were individual in their complexity and that sometimes lengthy enforcement actions were necessary, where riparian rights were involved.

·         Queries were raised in relation to flooding incidents in Kirton, which had taken place a number of times, and required attention.  Officers advised that they would look into this further and provide an update to the councillor in due course.

·         There were concerns that the number of Section 19 investigations seemed to be getting longer and if the heavy rainfall continued the list would continue to get longer.  Officers commented that they were conscious that there was a backlog of cases, and they had no choice but to investigate once they became aware of a flood, and so the workload was highly weather dependent.  Investigations were being undertaken and reports were now starting to come through almost every day and work was underway to reduce the outstanding list to something more manageable.

RESOLVED

            That the investigations undertaken in the County under Section 19 of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 be noted.