Written evidence from Essex County Council (FFP 92)
Written evidence submitted by Head of Commissioning, Sustainable Environment: Protection and the Flood and Water Management Team, Essex County Council
1 A Lead Local Flood Authority Perspective
1.1 On 24th August 2013, and again on 20th July 2014, Canvey Island in Castle Point, Essex experienced serve flooding following heavy rainfall.
1.2 Essex County Council (ECC) as the Lead Local Flood Authority (LLFA) published a Section.19 Flood Investigation Report following the 20th July 2014 event, where up to 1000 properties are reported to have been affected.
1.3 As part of the Flood Investigation Report, ECC made 13 Recommendations as shown in Table 1. All Flood Risk Management Authorities have invested in partnership working on these recommendations via the Multi-Agency Task and Finish Group. Progress on all recommendations has been made.
Table 1 13 Recommendations of the S.19 Flood Investigation Report.
1 | Establish a multi-agency “task and finish” group - led by the LLFA |
2 | Assess drainage design/infrastructure issues identified by the IUD study |
3 | Review & improve maintenance/inspection of drainage
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4 | Greater resident involvement in future study/works to improve drainage systems. |
5 | LLFA - Investigate options to provide Property Level Protection.
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6 | Confirm ownership of Canvey Lake; look at options to increase outflow & storage capacity. |
7 | Map & confirm ownership and condition for all drainage assets on the island. |
8 | ECC/EA/CPBC Comms - Raise public awareness of flood resilience measures |
9 | LLFA/CPBC/ECPEM – Wider dissemination of campaigns to residents on what to do before, during and after flooding. |
10 | ECC/CPBC Emergency Planning – Comms before flood events and coordination of emergency response. |
11 | Category 1 Responders - Improve communication and joint working during events. |
12 | LLFA – Support Emergency Planning - providing information on flood risk prior to an event. |
13 | Prepare funding bid for capital projects to protect and prevent flooding on Canvey |
1.4 The event of the 20th July 2014 was subsequently assessed as a 1 in 316 year return period in some early reports. However the Flood Guidance Statement remained at an Amber warning for the 19th and Yellow warning for the 20th July prior to the event itself. Clearly this did not accurately reflect the severity of the event and the community were not adequately prepared for what happened.
1.5 Our S.19 Flood Investigation Report was Peer Reviewed by Defra and a report published on gov.uk in October 2014. This report included a reference to some longer term strategic recommendations that may be of interest to this inquiry.
“We noticed language throughout the report in the form of return periods (such as “one in thirty year” events). It is commonly used in risk related documentation generally but is not a form that is generally understood by the public. This approach takes account of the historic record of previous similar events, rather than capturing how that likelihood changes over time; specifically it does not capture how the future effects of climate change will impact on severe weather events.
Recommendation 5 - The Met Office and the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology should review the likelihood and impact of extreme weather events looking into the future, and provide a clear approach to understanding the probabilities of specific types of events taking place and communicating that to the public. It is clear that Canvey Island is not the only part of the country that is likely to be susceptible to flooding of this kind, specifically after a short but very intense period of rain. Lessons can be learned not only for local implementation, but potentially applied where necessary around the country.
Recommendation 6 - The Environment Agency along with relevant agencies should provide an overview of areas where extreme rainfall events may result in significant local impact, in order to review safeguards in those places.
Recommendation 7 -The Natural Hazards Partnership should use the Canvey Island event as a case study in the surface water Hazard Impact Modelling initiative to enhance the development of more effective future alerting.”
1.6 Multi-agency working on Canvey Island has been hugely successful to manage flood risk and increase resilience. All Flood Risk Management Authorities have committed individual resource and investment for Canvey Island. The total investment to date is estimated at £2 million.
1.7 A ‘Multi-agency Six Point Plan’ also explores what work has already been undertaken on the Island, what projects are planned for the future, and how all partners need to invest funding. The six point plan sets out the proposed activities required for a long-term solution to flooding on Canvey Island as follows.
Cost £500,000
Cost £2,000,000
Cost £16,000,000
Cost £2,000,000
Cost £2,000,000
Cost £2,000,000
Total investment required - £24,500,000
1.8 In working with the Environment Agency, and using the partnership funding calculator, it has been assessed that approximately £3.4 million could be secured through FDGiA contributions. Substantially less than that forecast by partners to be required at £24.5 million. This would suggest that models do not calculate the costs of future flooding to communities accurately.
1.9 Our Flood Investigation Report can be viewed at http://www.essex.gov.uk/Environment%20Planning/Environment/local-environment/flooding/Documents/FloodInvestigationReportCanveyIsland.pdf
1.10 The Government Peer Review Report can be viewed at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/364316/14-1143-canvey-island-peer-review.pdf
March 2016