Councils ‘best placed’ to deal with floods says Pitt

09 January 2008

Local authorities are ‘best placed’ to provide stronger leadership on managing surface water flooding but will need more technical staff, according to a Whitehall review.

Sir Michael Pitt, in interim recommendations to ministers for the ‘lessons learned’ review into the devastating flooding of last June and July, says councils should lead strategies to reduce the intra-urban flood risk. Local authorities should follow Leeds City Council – which has hired more technical staff to reduce flood risk by, for example, maintaining watercourses – so they can play an ‘intelligent client’ role, urges Pitt.

They should also take on more work, he advises Whitehall, producing surface water management plans and new registers of drainage assets, undertaking more regular repairs, and advising water firms and developers on necessary drainage improvements.

The Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management welcomed the call for greater co-ordination, but warned that ‘without statutory duties and extra resources, this might come to nothing’.

David Telford, CIWEM spokes-man, claimed: ‘Cash-strapped local authorities will think twice about taking this on, unless they have to.’ In the past, all local authorities had a drainage section, but these have been cut back following the loss of sewerage agency agreements with water companies, and then the transfer of critical ordinary courses to the Environment Agency.

Bob Sargent, head of hydrology at Hyder Consulting, said the ‘lack of drainage skills hampers authorities’ ability to undertake their current abilities, let alone any new ones’.

But Tony Poole, Bradford City Council principal drainage engineer, said the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs had ‘acknowledged that more resources will have to be found to do this’. He added that skills gaps in smaller authorities could be plugged by the formation of council support networks, allowing larger councils, such as Bradford and Leeds, to assist others. Telford, who works for the Environment Agency, acknowledged that councils, as local highway authorities, could make a big difference to surface water flooding.

‘The height of kerbs can make it harder for flood waters to inundate properties,’ he said. Pitt also advises that the EA take on a strategic overview for all inland flooding, and, as a matter of urgency, pinpoint the UK areas at highest risk from surface water flooding.

Environment secretary, Hilary Benn, immediately accepted the latter recommendation, and nine other ‘urgent’ priorities for action. But, he will await Pitt’s finalised report before accepting others, including the promotion of sustainable urban drainage systems.

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Councils ‘best placed’ to deal with floods says Pitt

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