Issue details

Proposed decision

·         To adopt the Kent Local Flood Risk Management Strategy 2024-2034 on behalf of Kent County Council.

·         To delegate authority to the Corporate Director of Growth, Environment and Transport in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Environment to refresh and/or make revisions to the Strategy as appropriate during the lifetime of the strategy.

·         To delegate authority to the Corporate Growth, Environment and Transport to take relevant actions, including but not limited to finalising the terms of, and entering into required contract or other legal agreements, as necessary to implement the decision.

Reason for the decision

-      KCC has a statutory duty to maintain and Local Flood Risk Management Strategy, under the Flood and Water Management Act 2010. The current Local Strategy was adopted in 2017 and ran until 2023. We have drafted a new Local Strategy to replace the previous one.

Background – Provide brief additional context

-      KCC is the Lead Local Flood Authority for Kent with a strategic overview for local flooding, flooding from surface water, groundwater, and ordinary watercourses. As part of this role we have to maintain and strategy that sets out how we will manage local flooding.

Options (other options considered but discarded)

-      This is a statutory duty, there are no other options.

How the proposed decision supports the Framing Kent's Future - Our Council Strategy 2022-2026

-      The Local Strategy is a key part of helping KCC achieve objective 5 of our commitment “to ensure the county is well placed to adapt to climate change”:

o      Working with partners, improve the safety and wellbeing of Kent’s residents and the economy of Kent through appropriate flood risk management, including the promotion of sustainable flood risk management practices in development, regeneration and land management, utilising natural processes where appropriate.

How the proposed decision supports Securing Kent’s Future 2022 -2026: Securing Kents Future - Budget Recovery Strategy.pdf

-      The Local Strategy sets out objectives for managing local flood risk in the county. It will primarily be delivered by the Flood and Water Management Team (FWM) alongside partners. It sets some high-level targets and ambitions for flood risk management in Kent.

-      The FWM team is funded from the core KCC budget. The Local Strategy can be delivered within this budget. External funding is available to support the delivery of flood risk management measures, which the FWM team will secure as part of delivering the Local Strategy.

-      The Local Strategy will not place any additional burden on the budget. An ambition of the Local Strategy is to increase investment in the county and support economic growth.