Agenda item

Scott Thompkins (Assistant Director – Environmental Services) informed the committee that this paper was a result of a motion passed by Full Council in December 2021. Meeting were geld with the Environmental Agency (EA) and Severn Trent (ST) which helped cooperation moving forward.

Jagjit Mahal (Delivery Lead Flood Risk Management) added that:

• In addition to the meeting with EA and ST, several operational meetings were held with ST to discuss sewer flooding issues as this was not in WCC’s remit so they cannot resolve it
• Regular scheduled meetings were held to talk through these operational issues and get more frequent updates then they had before
• The paper included some key achievements that County Highways had in terms of their drainage works, and the Flood Risk Team had in terms of what they managed to do over the past five years
• The paper outlined some key partners that had a role to play with flood risk in Warwickshire some of their key responsibilities
• National Highways got some feedback from national public satisfaction surveys that were included in the paper too

In response to Councillor Jenny Fradgley, Scott Tompkins said that reoccurring drainage problems were in this remit and climate change was exacerbating this. Highway infrastructure was built to survive a typical 1 in 10 year event, and drainage systems were judged on how long it took for puddles to disappear off roads. County Highways had their recent NHT Survey results back and this showed that Warwickshire was No1 in the country for keeping their drains clean from a customer service point of view. 

Councillor Redford added that any drainage problem should be reported to the relevant locality officer as soon as possible so it could be actioned or through the Council’s website.  

Councillor Jonathan Chilvers informed the committee that there was a good map on Compass which showed flood risk in areas cross-county per km2¹.  

In response to Councillor Chilvers, Jagjit Mahal stated that mini-suds/retrofit-suds were there to help provide additional capacity as it is very difficult to increase capacity of historic drainage systems. Examples of retrofit SuDS being used elsewhere were ‘rain gardens’, ‘tree pits’, or permeable paving which held water until it could be properly disposed of into drains at a slower rate. WCC did not get involved with driveway flooding but national policy stated that all driveways that were hard standing should either have a permeable surface or drainage system.     

Scott Tompkins added that nationally, gullies used to be cleaned out up to four times annually, but this was reduced in most authorities when austerity started in the 2000s. Most were only cleared out when they needed to be. WCC has resisted this change and clears gulliesup to three times annually on a risk management basis; they were able to do this due to budget management. New legislation was due to come out regarding suds in 2023 which would mean the Council’s Flood Risk Management Team would have the responsibility to maintain and adopt SuDS. WCC would get no additional funding to manage this so it will be a financial burden. Before this legislation, WCC current role is to check the design of sustainable drainage on major developments.   

Following a supplementary from Councillor Chilvers, Jagjit Mahal stated that they started to draw up locations where frequent flooding occurred on highways and to residential properties from highways. Severn Trent Water were being worked with on this and they were planning to meet with Balfour Beatty's (Balfour’s) to assist with the design and construction of temporary flood water holders. 

In response to Councillor Sinclair, Scott Tompkins stated that in 2021 there was an issue with poor performance from a subcontractor of Balfour’s as they were not making enough money from the contract for the work they were doing; therefore, performance dipped. Balfour’s changed subcontractor and WCC put more money in, so this increased performance. He agreed to clarify the performance figures on page 39, which appear to be calculated incorrectly in the report pack for the committee².  

Following a supplementary from Councillor Sinclair, Scott Tompkins reiterated that WCC had a good working relationship with ST, but it was up to the OSC if they wanted to invite them to a future meeting.  

Councillor Sinclair formally proposed that the OSC invite Severn Trent to a future meeting of Communities OSC. 

This was seconded by Councillor Dave Humphreys. 

Councillor Chilvers proposed an amendment to extend the invite to the Environmental Agency to discuss any mismanagement.  

This amendment was accepted by Councillor Sinclair. 

Vote  

The Communities OSC voted unanimously in favour for Severn Trent and the Environmental Agency to be invited to a future meeting of the OSC. 

Resolved 

That Severn Trent and the Environmental Agency be invited to attend a meeting of the Communities OSC.  

In response to Councillor Richard Baxter-Payne, Jagjit Mahal said that they spoke to Severn Trent Water around their staff turnarounds, and they were picking up longstanding issues from the past. He agreed to pick up any specific issues directly with Severn Trent Water.  

In response to Councillor Marian Humphreys, Scott Tompkins stated that the new legislation would focus on drainage in new housing estates. For other areas, the team had a list of areas to prioritise that flooded frequently or internally. They were working through this to getting funding and schemes out to areas who needed this fixed.  

The Chair requested that the Flood Team engage with any issues with raw sewage.   

In response to Councillor Jonathan Chilvers, Jagjit Mahal noted that their work was mainly reactive, and they focused on areas that were more likely to get flooded internally. WCC do serve notices and use enforcement powers to remind people of their responsibilities under the Land Drainage Act 1991 to keep ditches and culverts clear. People emptying ditches on their land into rivers may increase the problem as flows get to rivers more quickly. Therefore, natural flood management was being looked at, with examples dotted around the county. This was to stop properties getting flooded by slowing the flow in the upper catchment.    

Councillor Andy Crump (Portfolio Holder – Fire & Rescue and Community Safety) informed the committee that he attended flood risk forums with ST and EA. They both improved their communication, especially the EA who were working with trading standards over water pollution in Wellesbourne division. The forum’s purpose was to protect as many properties as possible, there were a few schemes around the county that needed community engagement. Help was needed from councillors in these communities to help with engagement from enough properties to make the schemes viable.  

He praised ST and EA being invited to a future meeting as there were issues with accountability and staffing within their organisations. He suggested that proposed questions be put into categories as residents had issues with the lack of communication. He praised the work done by the officers of this paper and the work done. 

The Chair concurred with this.  

In response to Councillor Pandher, Scott Tompkins stated that WCC do not have any authority to get ST to fix pipes in a specific timeframe. ST are allowed emergency access to the network to fix problems. The only enforcement WCC had was to impose enforcement fines if they overstayed their welcome on the network. This influenced them to fix things in a certain amount of time.