Agenda item

The Committee received a report on Flood and Water Management from the Lead Emergency Planning Officer for Cheshire East. The Officer took the Committee through the Council’s key duties and responsibilities as the Lead Local Flood Authority (LLFA) including a summary of each duty and dates of when the duties will become effective.

The Committee made the  following points:

·         The structure shown in Appendix B was good.

·         The LLFA would maintain a register of structures or features which they considered to have a significant effect on flood risk. An on going structure list had been obtained and was being arranged in parish order. That would then form part of the Council’s Surface Water Management Plan (SWMP) in order that the Council could identify areas that were a potential risk. Any property, such as walls, that would contribute to flood defence can be considered as such. Any property considered part of the register would have to be easily identified to ensure residents do not make changes without alerting the LLFA. Councillors expressed an interest in assisting with the production of the list. The Flood Risk Officer was located in Westfields and could be contacted by Councillors as normal.

·         Paragraph 11.1.1 of the report; the £176,500 budget received from DEFRA was an annual budget. Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) adoption would also be funded in full; consultation on this would be completed in autumn 2011. The SuDS Approving Body (SAB) timeframe for approval of drainage applications would be well within 7 weeks so as not to hold up the planning process.

·         The Lead Emergency Planning Officer for Industrial Issues was present to discuss reservoirs. Reservoirs in the top 100 high priority category for flood risk were assessed based on size and the materials within them, the risk of failure and the potential damage that a failure would cause. The two Cheshire East reservoirs in the top 100, Trentabank and Ridgegate, in the top 100 were not the highest risk, ranking between 50^th and 70^th approximately.

·         There was a possibility that emergency planning stock, such as sand bags, would be decentralised to Parish and Town Councils deemed able to distribute them competently.

Cllr D Flude attended the meeting to raise an issue about the risk of flooding and surface water to unadopted areas of Cheshire East that weren’t cleaned as part of the Council’s legal requirement. In response Councillors were asked to speak with the Flood Officer to identify these areas. The SWMP would be able to identify areas of risk to be dealt with and the Highways contract with Ringway Jacobs included provision for emergency call out for cleaning of gullies etc.

RESOLVED:

(a)  That the Officers be thanked and the report be noted by Councillors for their knowledge.

(b)  That emergency planning stock should be decentralised to competent areas of Cheshire East.

Cllr D Flude and A Thwaite left the meeting. The Lead Emergency Planning Officer for Cheshire East and Lead Emergency Planning Officer for Industrial Issues left the meeting.