Agenda item

Context:

To provide an update on the Local Flood Risk Management strategy and other matters relating to flooding in Monmouthshire

          Key Issues:

          Members were informed that it was a requirement for the Council to produce a Local Flood Risk Management Strategy by April 2013. This requirement was set out in the Flood & Water Management Act of 2010 (F&WMAct) when Monmouthshire was also designated as an LLFA or Lead Local Flood Authority. It was also identified as a requirement in the Welsh Governments National Strategy for Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management in December of 2011. A draft strategy was considered by this Committee in the Autumn of 2012 and revised to take account of comments made. It was also subjected to a public consultation period in Jan to February of 2013 before being reported to Cabinet on 3 April 2013. Following Cabinet approval it was submitted to Welsh Government for Ministerial approval and that was received in late April 2014.  The Strategy was then published, as required, on the Council’s website.

          As part of the F&WMAct we also have to prepare a Flood Risk Management Plan which will incorporate Flood Hazard and Flood Risk maps. The timescale for this was to be published by December 2015. The first Guidance was provided in May 2014 and subsequently a Template for the Plan document being produced in Wales was provided through the regional Flood Groups, revised in December 2014. The mapping data required to do the analyses provided by the Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales was delayed due to its translation into the formats needed and that also arrived in December 2014

Member Scrutiny:

Members queried whether the areas of risk highlighted in the plans have been considered as part of the Local Development Plan (LDP). Members were informed that it was considered as part of the LDP process but the mapping has been updated since then and comparisons against the new information is yet to be undertaken.

Members received information from officers on the maintenance of culverts and flood defences and informed that cameras are being used at key locations to monitor activity and action taken where required. Members noted the success of the scheme and queried how this can be rolled out further.

Members questioned the impact of water being diverted to holding tanks rather than into water courses particularly at new residential development sites. Members requested further information relating to this around whose is responsible for the holding tanks and what restrictions are in place to ensure they don’t overfill.

Members also queried the impact of hard standing driveways on residential properties and the impact these have floods. Members requested information from planning relating to the rules in converting residential property green spaces to driveways with particular reference to the porous nature of the materials to be used as well as statistics on the number of properties with hard standing driveways.