Agenda and minutes

To note that Mr A Terry has replaced Mr J Elenor as a Member of the Committee.

The Committee noted the appointment of Mr A Terry in place of Mr J Elenor.

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the meeting held on 20 July 2015 are correctly recorded and that they be signed by the Chairman.

Tuesday, 8 March 2016

Monday, 18 July 2016

Monday, 14 November 2016

The Committee noted the following meeting dates for 2016:-

Tuesday, 8 March 2016;

Monday, 18 July 2016;

Monday, 14 November 2016.

(a)          Flood Wardens : Cark Lewis (Tonbridge Flood Wardens Group) and Tim Norton (Environment Agency)

(b)          Kent Search and Rescue: Stuart Kenny (Water Lead Officer)

(c)          Kent 4 x 4: Steve Short (Chairman)

(1)       The Chairman welcomed the four speakers to the meeting.  He informed the Committee that he had attended a two day exercise arranged by the Environment Agency, informed by the winter 2013/14 storms. This had been at Endeavour House in Addington. He had requested that all Members of the Committee be invited to attend such events in the future as it would be of great interest to observe flooding preparedness and response activities at first hand. 

(2)       Tim Norton (Flood Resilience Team Leader, Environment Agency) gave a presentation entitled “Community Resilience in Kent: Flood Wardens.”  He said that the 2013/14 floods had convinced him that action on Flood Wardens was necessary for three reasons.  The first of these had been that the response of certain communities to the flooding had not been as good as it could have been.  The second was the political imperative, as there had been a widespread view that something positive needed to be done.  Thirdly, there was an identified need for all agencies involved to protect their reputations.  Although they had worked well in 2013/14, the publicity had often been unfairly negative.  Reputational damage needed to be avoided because it could become a factor hindering the effectiveness of future flood response.   The solution lay in the development of a relationship of trust within vulnerable communities. 

(3)       Mr Norton went on to say that work had been undertaken to identify what communities and individuals could do to manage flood risk better, by responding more quickly and efficiently.  Volunteers had been given basic training to enable them to understand who did what during a flooding incident, how to stay safe during a flood and where the information would be coming from.  This had been complemented by the development of a Flood Warden Handbook.   This described their roles and potential tasks and was accompanied by a flood warden pack in the form of a rucksack containing basic kit.  The work stream which sat alongside the basic training was community level emergency planning.

(4)        Mr Norton showed a map which identified the areas where new flood wardens had been trained. They were scattered around the County with the highest number in Faversham and along the Stour and the Nailbourne rivers.

(5)       As the programme developed, the EA had become aware of two areas which were potential “deal breakers.” The first of these was the question of who should have responsibility for the Flood Wardens.  The new model identified the top tier as the Multi Agency Command and Control structure during an incident, below them were the various Tactical Co-ordinating Groups. The reporting line to the Flood Wardens themselves would go through the District and Borough Councils. 

(6)       The second potential deal breaker was the question of Insurance.  This would be delivered through the Parish Councils or the Boroughs/Districts. All Flood Wardens were now covered, provided that they had been properly trained and were carrying out their functions in the correct manner.  It was recommended that each insuring authority  ...  view the full minutes text for item 16.

(1)          Mr Flaherty reported on the second Annual Severe Weather Exercise.  He said that its purpose was to ensure that all the responding agencies within the County were prepared for winter.  This involved a scenario which could then be discussed and evaluated afterwards.

(2)       The 2015 event had involved a scenario of widespread flooding followed by high winds and snow. Participants had included the Environment Agency and Mark Rogers from the Met Office, who had based the scenario on an actual event which had occurred twenty five years earlier.   Guest speakers had also been present to set out what their agencies could contribute to assist the emergency services.  

(3)       The event had been very well attended, involving 80 delegates, including the Kent Resilience Forum, Chief Executives or Director level support from the Districts and KCC as well as some Member attendance.  Senior Managers from responding organisations had also been involved.

(4)       Mr Flaherty said that the day had been very worthwhile, and had demonstrated the preparedness of the agencies concerned.  A whole range of issues had been examined, including resourcing, equipment, and command and control arrangements. The work of the Severe Weather Advisory Group had been acknowledged. It had also been an opportunity to put into practice the work which had been done with the Flood Wardens.  Their role formed a key part of the response as they represented eyes and ears on the ground, knew their local areas and were familiar with the local flood plans, and were the first point of contact for the emergency services when they arrived at the scene.

(5)       The recent Flood Warden Seminar had been the first of its kind. This seminar had reinforced the crucial importance of their work. Kent was extremely fortunate to have some 200 Flood Wardens who had been suitably trained.  This was a higher than any other part of the UK and meant that there was effectively a Flood Warden for every Parish to be able to access.  The 50 or so volunteers at Kent Fire were also trained as Flood Wardens and were available to offer support as needed.

(6)       Mr Flaherty then said that the helicopter used for the exercise was one of two which would be located at Lydd and replace the RAF search and rescue capability which had formerly been located at Manston.  That service had now been contracted out.    

(7)       Mr Flaherty went on to inform the Committee that, in addition to Kent Search and Rescue, there was another group of volunteers which provided air support (Air Search).  People had made their aircraft available, which would enable a bird’s eye view to identify the extent of the flooding when it occurred.   Both Kent Fire and Kent Police now had access to a drone each. It was likely that by this time in 2016 there would be a combined figure of 4 drones enabling Fire and Police to do their own reconnaissance if necessary.

(8)       A prestigious national award had been presented to the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17.

(1)       Mr Harwood referred to Minute 11 (3) concerning the June 20-15 multi-agency workshop to consider potential evacuation issues in Romney Marsh in the event of a major coastal flooding event.  He said that this was part of a wider DEFRA East Coast flooding project: The Use of Roads to Evacuate and Shelter People.  The report back from this project would take place on 3 December at the DEFRA Offices in Smith Square. 

(2)       Mr Flaherty informed the Committee that the 2016 Annual Severe Weather Exercise would be using the Romney Marsh scenario as its table top exercise.

(3)       Mr Harwood referred to the Emergency Planning Society award to the Kent Voluntary Sector Emergency Group and said that it underlined the fact that volunteers were now integrally involved in so many aspects of Kent’s resilience work, including flood response.  They had recently been part of Exercise Beowulf on the Isle of Sheppey which had focussed on multi-agency oil pollution response. 

(4)       Mr Harwood informed the Committee that the total of Environment Agency flood alerts issued since July 2015 had now risen to 21 as a result of a recent event between Pegwell Bay and Deal.  He warned that Kent was now just past the peak of the astronomical spring tide season and that more high tides were still expected in the coming winter period.

(5)       Mr Bowles asked for the information contained in Appendix 3 of the report to be circulated to all Members and the Parishes.

(6)       Mr Davies said that he was concerned about drainage infrastructure in relation to surface water flooding.  He said that drains were not being cleared as often as they needed to be.  In Tunbridge Wells, this matter was raised by all the Parish Councils and also by local residents.   He suggested that Kent Highways, transportation and Waste should be informed of this local concern and asked to take appropriate steps to alleviate it.

(7)       Mr Harwood said that he and Mr Tant were shortly due to meet the Drainage Manager to discuss winter preparedness. They would be discussing another of matters including local pumping capacity and capability.

(8)       Mr Davies noted that in contrast to the Netherlands, privately owned ditches were often not maintained or even filled in.  This seemed to be because the Dutch landowners had a legal responsibility to do so, unlike their UK counterparts.

(9)       The Chairman replied to Mr Davies by saying that the obligation on landowners to clear ditches and drains was covered by the riparian ownership laws.  He asked for an item on riparian ownership to be included on the agenda for the next meeting on March.

(10)     Mr Hills said that one of the complications was that whilst Natural England was attempting to prevent over-zealous cleaning of dykes because of potential negative impacts upon wildlife, the IDBs were very supportive of doing exactly that. This meant that landowners were often not clear as to precisely what was expected of them. 

(11)     Dr Eddy asked whether  ...  view the full minutes text for item 18.