Written evidence submitted by Staffordshire
County Council
CREATION OF
UNIFIED ACT
It is considered that a Unified act is still
required in order to simplify and rationalise the existing drainage
legislative regime.
INDUSTRY WIDE
STANDARDS
It would be beneficial if industry wide design
standards for flood risk management could be agreed. A standard
process to record flooding incidents shared by all key partners
would also assist with flood investigation work and production
of Preliminary Flood Risk Assessments. Consistent methods of recording
and assessing flood risk would also promote collaborative working
between organisations to find integrated solutions to problems
and assist government with making decisions over future investment.
ASSET DISPUTE
RESOLUTION PROCEDURES
A process should be introduced to resolve asset
liability disputes for drains/sewers etc. At present there is
currently no formal process to resolve such disputes leading to
a stand off position between organisations as to ownership and
maintenance liabilities.
We have recently identified three separate locations
which due to lack of appropriate legal documentation the process
of determining asset liability is proving difficult to resolve.
In one particular case a WA has informed the District Council
that, despite maintaining an asset for over 40 years, it is longer
prepared to do so and has put the onus on the District Council
to produce legal documentation even though such records may not
exist or would have been transferred to the WA following the termination
of the Drainage Agency Agreement.
This issue also relates to the proposals for
Water Companies to take over responsibility for private drains.
We have situations where private drains are connected to pipes
in the carriageway which also take the discharge from the highway
drains before discharging into either a river or natural watercourse.
What is the status of these pipes should they become public sewers
under the new arrangements?
CONSENTING FOR
WORKS TO
ORDINARY COURSES
It is considered that the consenting process
for all works on ordinary water courses should be retained by
the Environment Agency until such time as Lead Local Authorities
FRM capabilities are sufficiently developed.
DUTY TO
COOPERATE AND
SHARE INFORMATION
At present the process of obtaining & sharing
information is proving difficult and time consuming due to lack
of co-operation from certain organisations. It would be helpful
if agreement could be reached on essential data requirements and
for this information to be made available via web portals where
via password controls organisations could download relevant data.
SUSTAINABLE DRAINAGE
SYSTEMS
Robust funding mechanisms need to be established
for the long term maintenance of SUD's. The proposals for a property
drainage charge seem an appropriate mechanism to overcome this
problem and funding also needs to be sufficient to maintain the
standards which will be forthcoming via the SUD's National Guidance.
CURRENT FUNDING
STRUCTURE
The proposals to fund Local Authorities new
responsibilities based upon risk criteria are supported. It is
considered that the use of the EA local Levy should be expanded
to include works to resolve Local Flooding issues including property
protection/resilience schemes and works to Ordinary Watercourses.
REDUCING PROPERTY
OWNERS' AND
OCCUPIERS' IMPACT
UPON LOCAL
FLOOD RISK
There is a need to introduce a simplified and
effective enforcement process to deal with surface water runoff
& flooding problems caused by change of land use or other
activities which exacerbate flooding on adjacent land. Whilst
LLA have the powers to investigate flooding problems the powers
to resolve such problems appear to be limited. The draft Bill
contained proposals for statutory nuisance powers which were seen
as a positive step to simplify the enforcement process.
We have recent occasions where tented poly tunnels
have caused flooding to adjacent properties due to lack of measures
to deal with the fast runoff. Other examples relate to inappropriate
ploughing across contours and change in land use which have resulted
in an A Class road being flooded on regular basis and requiring
emergency road closures and diversions to be set up. Actions to
help promote the upkeep of road side ditches by farmers would
also be welcomed, as run off from fields regularly contributes
significantly to highway flooding, and it can sometimes be difficult
to encourage farmers to undertake the necessary work on an ongoing
basis.
October 2010
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