Agenda item

Oral report of Cabinet Member for Environment, Infrastructure and Climate Change

The Committee received an oral report and PowerPoint presentation of the Cabinet Member for Environment Infrastructure and Climate Change informing them of the County Council’s new ‘FAIR’ approach to community flood risk management (slides attached at Appendix 3 to the signed minutes).

During his presentation and report the Cabinet Member highlighted:- (i) additional funding (approximately £6m to end of March 2027) which had recently been secured from the Department of Environment Food and Rural Affairs to support the Flood and Coastal Resilience programme in Staffordshire; (ii) the Environment Agency’s definition of flood resilience; (iii) the overarching aim of the Programme (ie “to support communities across the region to become more aware, informed and resilient to flooding, working collaboratively with professionals to better plan, protect, respond and recover in a sustainable way”.); (iv) an overview of the Flood: Aware, informed, Resilient approach; (v) an overview of the local FAIR approach to Community Flood Risk initiative and indicative timeline for its delivery; (vi) the generic approach to flood risk management be adopted for the whole County and the more targeted approach for those communities most at risk; (vii) the five specific FAIR objectives and; (viii) the collaborative approach to be adopted by the County Council in delivering the programme including staffing and governance arrangements.

In the full and wide-ranging discussion which ensued, Members gave detailed scrutiny to the Authority’s approach to flood risk management, asking questions, seeking clarification and raising areas of concern as necessary, including:- (i) the extent of the collaborative working with Partners eg The Canal and River Trust which had already been undertaken in pursuit of the Council’s aims; (ii) the detrimental effect on land drainage caused by large scale housing and industrial development in vulnerable areas and the role of the District and Borough Council’s planning processes in controlling the causes of flooding; (iii) the need to increase water retention measures and control its release; (iv) the need to ensure all Partners were meeting their obligations with regard to flood risk mitigation including eg enforcement action by the Environment Agency against sewage discharge and; (v) opportunities which might exist for joint working with other agencies eg the Coal Authority in seeking to reduce the risk of flooding in the County.

In conclusion, Members welcomed news of the additional Government funding for Staffordshire and the progress which had been made by the Authority towards effective flood risk management in the County. However, they urged the Cabinet Member to have regard to their comments during his continued work in this area and undertook to give further scrutiny to the matter, as necessary.

RESOLVED – (a) That the oral report and presentation be received and noted.

(b) That the news of additional Government Funding which had been made available in support of flood risk management in Staffordshire and the progress made to date in this respect, be welcomed.

(c) That the Cabinet Member be urged to have regard to the Committee’s comments in his on-going work towards ensuring effective flood risk management in the County.

(d) That the issue of flood risk management be kept under close review and further scrutiny be undertaken, as necessary.