APPENDIX 44
Letter to the Chairman
from the Technical Director, Halcrow UK (F70)
When we met on Friday 19 June 1998 at Norton
Village Hall we discussed flood defence issues in the light of
the impending report of the Agriculture Select Committee on flood
defence. I thought that it would be useful for you if I briefly
set out the issues we discussed as follows:
1. Sustainable Development—When
an area is developed all the rain that falls on it is collected
in drains and flows into the nearest watercourse instead of soaking
into the ground. This means that groundwaters are not recharged,
a valuable resource is lost and flooding risk is increased. With
a little thought and willingness on the part of developers and
local planning authorities these negative impacts can be avoided.
Rainwater could be collected and used as "grey" water
for flushing toilets, car washing, garden watering etc. Surplus
water could be infiltrated back into the ground via soakaways.
It would not be significantly more expensive to fit these arrangements
in a development than the current arrangements for disposal of
water. Perhaps a change to planning guidance would be appropriate.
2. Development Affecting Floodprone
Areas—Quite often a development is proposed which is
either in a flood risk area or would increase flood risk elsewhere.
The Environment Agency is a statutory consultee but we discussed
the possibility of giving the Environment Agency powers similar
to the Highways Authority to direct the local Planning Authority
to refuse planning permission until the EAs flood defence requirements
had been met. The Highways Authorities use these powers in the
name of highway safety. There seems to be a compelling case for
similar powers to reduce flood risk.
3. Flood Warning—This is a
tricky area; essentially, to be of any use, flood warnings have
to be given in sufficient time for those receiving them to do
something about it. Sometimes it is not possible to givemeaningful
warnings as events can happen very quickly. However, whatever
system is used the warning has to reach all who need it as quickly
as possible. My own experience is that the "cascade"
system works well. It does however need the commitment of everyone
in the cascade and requires a lot of work to keep it going.
These are just a few of the issues affecting
how flooding and flood risk is managed. I would be delighted to
discuss these issues or any other related issues with you further
if that would be helpful to your work on the report of your select
committee.
23 June 1998
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