MFR0001

Written Evidence submitted by Amy Fleming on behalf of Cllr David Renard, Chairman, LGA Environment, Economy, Housing & Transport Board

Re: Managing Flood Risks

I am writing as Chairman of the Local Government Association’s (LGA) Environment, Economy, Housing & Transport Board to share our analysis ahead of your Committee’s inquiry into managing flood risks.

Local approach to flood risk management

Councils are well placed to lead a local approach to flood defence, using their local knowledge to ensure that money is directed towards projects that best reflect local needs, including protecting key roads and bridges to keep local residents and businesses moving. We are calling for funding for flood defences to be devolved to local areas and sit within a new national framework for addressing the climate emergency.

In February 2020 the LGA undertook a climate change survey to assess what actions local authorities have already taken to mitigate and adapt to climate change. 8 out of 10 councils surveyed had been affected by a climate related incident in the last five years and 70 per cent of those councils identified flooding as one of those incidents.

The most frequently delivered climate change adaptation projects local authorities undertake include wildlife protection and biodiversity, sustainable urban drainage, flood awareness campaigns for residents and contingency plans for vulnerable people. In order to continue to deliver these essential activities Government should fully fund the development and implementation of local authority climate change adaptation plans.

Lead Local Flood Authorities (LLFAs) were established in 2010 in county and unitary areas. Their roles include development of a local flood risk management strategy, investigating flood incidents and as statutory consultees, providing technical advice on surface water drainage to local planning authorities. Grant funding for LLFAs runs out at the end of this financial year and councils need urgent clarity on how this critical role will be funded from 2021.

The new national flooding and coastal erosion strategy from the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Environment Agency will need to be reflected locally in plans and strategies. This will require new skills and technical knowledge, such as natural flood management. The LGA would like to work with Government on how councils will be supported to lead and implement the new strategy locally. 

Funding future flood and coastal erosion risk management

Feedback on the current funding model for flood and coastal erosion risk management from councils to the LGA indicates that:

• The current funding model for flood and coastal erosion risk management is overly complicated and not designed to deliver local priorities. The complexity of the process for applying for Grant in Aid (GiA) and local levy funding can result in a situation where it is not justifiable, from a resource perspective, to seek contributions from these sources. This is particularly the case for small schemes when the actual amount needed is relatively small.

• Securing contributions to develop schemes as well as securing contributions to maintain schemes are time and resource consuming. There is a general feeling by potential contributors that maintenance should be the responsibility of the Environment Agency, which makes it difficult to obtain contributions from other sources.

• Securing contributions, or a commitment to contribute, is challenging at the early stages of a scheme when a full business case is not yet approved. GiA funding is not approved until partnership funding requirements have been met and therefore projects can find themselves in a ‘chicken and egg’ situation where both sets of funding need to be in place for the remaining funding to be made available.

• Moving to a block grant funding approach and allowing local authorities to self-assure small projects would be far more beneficial for smaller scale projects and local priorities. In areas that experience regular and/or severe flooding events the grant formulas would need to reflect these local circumstances to ensure access to sufficient amounts of funding.

Protecting homes from flood risk

The LGA would like to see building regulations changed to include mandatory flood protection measures for new properties. These would require developers to introduce measures like raised electrical sockets, fuse boxes, controls and wiring, sealed floors, and raised damp-proof courses.

The planning system must also have public participation at its heart, enabling councils to deliver resilient, prosperous places that meet the needs of their communities. Our message to Government is that reform of the planning system must not take further powers away from communities and councils. This will only deprive them of the ability to define the area they live in and know best and risks giving developers the freedom to ignore the wishes of local communities.

Nationally prescribed permitted development rights remove the ability of councils and local communities to shape the area they live in and ensure homes are built to a high standard with the necessary infrastructure in place. Feedback from councils is that national prescribed permitted development rights could also exacerbate local flood risk through the inappropriate use of non-porous materials on floodplains, and the cumulative effect this has on a local area.

January 2021