Issue - meetings

Flood Risk Alleviation - Update

Meeting: 20/09/2017 - Policy and Resources Committee (Item 64)

64 Flood Risk Alleviation - Update pdf icon PDF 68 KB

Minutes:

The Director of Finance and Business Improvement presented an update to the Committee on Flood Risk Alleviation work in the borough.

 

The presentation outlined three main areas of work:

  • Flood risk alleviation to residential properties in the borough, through joint working with Kent County Council, Maidstone Borough Council and the Environment Agency;

  • Measures to reduce flooding in the Town Centre as part of the underspend in the Bridges Gyratory Improvements; and

  • Safety work on the Mote Park Lake Dam, in order to increase its resilience to flooding and protect nearby properties.

 

In terms of property level improvements against flooding in the Medway Confluence, the Committee noted that only 41 of the 401 properties eligible for property level flood resilience measures had received a full survey so far. Concerns were also raised that the £7500 grant offered by the Environment Agency would not be enough to cover the necessary flood protection measures for some properties, leaving the owners liable to fund the difference.

 

In response to a question from the Committee, the Director of Finance and Business Improvement confirmed that properties at very significant risk of flooding, such as those in Hart Street in the Town Centre, were also potentially eligible for a £7500 grant from the Environment Agency to improve flood resilience.

 

The Director of Finance and Business Improvement explained to the Committee that some of the expected works that were proposed as part of the Bridges Gyratory Improvements had been found to be unfeasible. A meeting had been scheduled for 13 October for all parties involved in the scheme to explore options and work towards a scheme that was feasible.

 

The Committee requested that in future these work streams are brought to the Committee as separate items.

 

RESOLVED: That

 

1)  The appropriate Officers from the Environment Agency are invited to speak to the Committee at a future meeting on the progress on the flood alleviation work in the borough.

2)  The appropriate Officers are invited to speak to the Committee at a future meeting to give technical advice on the problems faced with flood alleviation works as part of the Bridges Gyratory Improvements.

3)  Information is circulated to the Committee on how many of the properties identified as part of the property level flood alleviation can be protected within the £7500 limit of the Environment Agency grants.

4)  The progress with flood alleviation schemes to be delivered by the Medway Flood Partnership is noted.

 

Voting: Unanimous