Agenda item
OCC Local Lead Flood Authority - Update
Purpose
To receive an update from the Lead Local Flood Authority, Oxfordshire County Council.
Minutes:
Mr Bill Cotton, Corporate Director for Environment and Place at Oxfordshire County Council addressed the meeting in relation to the council’s role as Local Lead Flood Authority.
He provided an overview of the responsibilities which he acknowledged were complicated; outlined the management roles and responsibilities for Oxfordshire and the Local Lead Flood Authority; advised how the OCC worked in partnership on the Local Management Strategy and were a statutory consultee on planning applications.
Members were provided with an explanation of the agreement held with District Councils to manage water courses and work with riparian owners to remind them of their responsibilities.
Mr Cotton advised that it was the County Council’s responsibility to record and investigate flood incidents (25 investigations in West Oxfordshire) and work with the fire brigade, local groups and councillors when an incident occurred. He admitted that the process had been tested at Christmas but reminded the meeting that due to Climate Change and flood risk, these incidents would always occur. Mr Cotton also referred to the Information and Support Toolkit and encouraged Members to let him know if these needed improvement.
Questions and comments from Councillors included:
Councillor Postan – stated that there were three sources of flooding – run off, surge and risen water table. Furthermore, he felt that clearance upstream would increase the flow and mitigating this clearance downstream was essential to mitigate flooding. He also referred to de-silting, tree planting, changes in agricultural methods and traffic measures.
Councillor Leffman queried what could be done to improve the relationship between the District and County Councils regarding planning applications; how to enforce clearing of watercourses by landowners; the responsibility for ditches and grips on Highway land; and drainage clearance operating on a four year cycle but in reality was closer to 8 to 9 years.
Councillor St John asked for clarification on the Section 19 report and why it had not yet been completed; the flood alert not being activated early enough; and the responsibility of the Environment Agency in this situation.
The Council’s Flooding Officer, Laurence King advised members that the S19 report was a County Council responsibility to produce. In response, Mr Cotton advised that he would enquire as to the status of the S19 report and get back to officers.
Councillor Coles raised the issue that a months rain had fallen in one afternoon and proposed the areas likely to be affected would have been known 24 to 36 hours earlier; he noted that sandbags were not ready on that occasion and preparations not made; he argued that despite the Climate Emergency, basic maintenance was not being carried out. He concluded by asking Mr Cotton how closely the County Council had worked with the relevant groups and authorities.
In response, Mr Cotton agreed to visit the ‘pinch points’ in person and meet the residents affected.
Members also raised a number of other areas for discussion, including building formal relationships with residents, the Local Resilience Forum and Parish Councils; and planning and building on known flood plains and appearing to disregard local knowledge with little recognition of community awareness.
In response, officers clarified the criteria for when a planning application was submitted to the County Council for comment. The Group Manager – Commercial Development asked if the 20+ flooding investigations in West Oxfordshire could be shared and reiterated the need to encourage town and parish councils to create their own community plans. He suggested that the Committee could ask to see the Section 19 report once it was available and it was agreed that this would be added to the Work Programme.
In summing up, Mr Cotton advised that the five key actions he would take away with him were:
To be clear about the County’s responsibilities;
To help strengthen partnership working;
To help community groups to build resilience;
He agreed to meet with local residents and visit areas of flooding concern; and
To chase up the status of the S19 report and forward it to the Committee for information.
The Committee agreed that a representative from the Environment Agency should be invited to a future meeting and look into the existing powers that the Council had for encouraging clearance of water courses and ditches.
In response to a query from Councillor Rylett, Mr Cotton advised that he would find out about the report from Wild Oxfordshire and the Environment Agency regarding Natural Flood Management and would share it with Members.
The Chairman thanked Mr Cotton for attending and answering questions from the Committee.