Minutes:
(1) Miss Holliday informed the Committee that the Flood and Water Management Bill was likely to receive Royal Assent before the General Election, but if it did not, there was cross-party support for both the Bill and its associated funding. Therefore it was unlikely to be affected if there were a change of government. There would also be a Part II of the Bill to pick up items not covered by the current Bill – Patrs I and II would be consolidated at some point in the future. Defra had stressed that there would be a lead-in period rather than an instant commencement and that this would be supported by a phased programme of implementation and guidance from central government.
(2) Under the Bill KCC would be the Lead Local Flood Authority for Kent. Interviews for the new Flood Risk Management Officer post would be held in mid March with the successful candidate starting early in the new financial year.
(3) One of the provisions contained within the Bill was for the development of local partnerships. In Kent this would probably take the form of a Kent Strategic Flood Partnership which would be complimented by various Sub-Groups. These would operate at officer level, reporting back to the Flood Risk Management Committee. Defra had not been prescriptive about the form that local partnerships should take as they wanted them to be developed in response to local circumstances.
(4) Miss Holliday explained that the County Council had taken the lead role in the production of the Dover Surface Water Management Plan, working in partnership with Dover DC, the Environment Agency and Southern Water. Jacobs had been appointed as consultants for this work.
(5) Mr Douch (Environment Agency) explained that the Environment Agency was the lead authority for the management of coastal erosion in coastal areas which were below sea level. The District Councils had responsibility for land above sea level. Work needed to be undertaken across Kent to determine available resources and capacity to deal with the new responsibilities and identify where further resources were required.
(6) Miss Holliday went on to discuss the Flood Risk Management Strategy. KCC as the Lead Local Flood Authority would have responsibility for its development and application. The Strategy needed to be aligned to the national strategy which was to be developed by the Environment Agency. Development of a Kent Strategy would commence once the national strategy had been published. Some ground work in terms of intelligence building could nevertheless be undertaken in the meantime.
(7) The scrutiny mechanisms would be the responsibility of this Committee, which would need to consider how best this work should be undertaken. There was currently a question about which authority should have the power to enforce action that had not been undertaken.
(8) Miss Holliday turned to the question of sustainable drainage systems (SUDS). It was not yet clear whether the function of approving systems would be the responsibility of the County or District Authorities.
(9) Miss Holliday then referred to the EU Flood Directive that required the development of preliminary flood risk assessments by June 2011. Commencement of this work was awaiting determination of the significant risk criteria, which was anticipated for April 2010. As this was a matter of the highest importance, a separate report on this Directive would be given to the Committee at a future meeting.
(10) Miss Holliday informed the Committee that £36m had been set aside by the Government to finance the work set out in the Bill. This would be shared between the various lead Authorities. Defra and the LGA were still considering the details of how this funding should be allocated. KCC had already received @ £100k for the Dover Surface Water Management Plan.
(11) RESOLVED that the report be noted.