Decision details

Background:

Kent County Council as the Lead Local Flood Authority has powers as a Land Drainage Authority, under the Land Drainage Act 1991, to regulate ordinary watercourses in Kent. An ordinary watercourse is a watercourse that is not a main river; it may be a small river, stream, ditch or drain and does not always need to flow.

As a land drainage authority KCC has powers to provide consent for any works within an ordinary watercourse. In exercising this role, we must ensure that the works do not increase the risk of flooding. We are also obliged to ensure that there is no loss of habitat or pollution to the watercourse. At present there is no policy statement on how KCC exercises these powers, which would provide clarity on the use of the powers.

Options:

·         Stay with present policy – these powers remain without a policy, which means that there is no clear statement of how we exercise them and no robust policy to refer to.

·         Develop and adopt a policy to provide clarity on how KCC will exercise its powers to regulate ordinary water courses

As Cabinet Member for Environment, I agree to adopt the Land Drainage Policy.