SWMPs expose ‘lack of expertise’

08 October 2008

It could take a decade for local authorities to obtain the technical staff with the necessary skills to tackle surface water flooding, ministers have been warned.

The Environment Agency, water companies, consultants, and local authorities themselves have told the Government that councils are best placed to lead the production of the proposed new surface water-management plans (SWMPs) – despite concerns about their skills and resources.

The majority view of those responding to the consultation was that councils should also take responsibility for adopting and maintaining sustainable urban drainage systems in public areas. This was despite the fact that consultants, contractors and academics advised the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs that it could take 10 years before local authorities had the in-house expertise needed for the new duties.

Until then, ‘training, recruitment and outsourcing will be required,’ according to a summary of the responses to the DEFRA consultation into the SWMPs. The Environment Agency agreed it would ‘take some time for local authorities to rebuild engineering capacity’, given that some have no drainage engineers. It suggested that councils share expertise among themselves, and potentially, also draw on water companies’ skills.

Some authorities have already started to do this. Bradford City Council has established a ‘learning alliance’ in Yorkshire to support the development of competencies in urban water management. However, many local authorities told DEFRA that they already had engineering and landscape skills in place. While local government respondents agreed they – lower-tier councils, co-ordinated by upper-tier authorities – wanted to steer the SWMPs, most were worried that they would be unable to ensure effective participation.

One council suggested that incorporating local operational staff from the EA and internal drainage boards into local authorities could address the need for better co-operation.

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