To receive any apologies for absence

None received

To receive any declarations of interest

None received

To consider the Part I minutes of the meeting held on 5 September 2017

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That the Part I minutes of the meeting held on 5 September 2017 be approved, subject to the following amendment:

·         p. 9 to read ‘The size of the pool had been increased to 10 lanes, ………’

To consider the above report

Members considered recommending to Council a future funding commitment to assist in delivery of the River Thames Scheme.

The Sub Committee was addressed by Ewan Larcombe. Mr Larcombe explained that for 60 out of 67 years he had lived in Datchet or Wraysbury. He was a member of both Datchet and Wraysbury Parish Councils but he was not speaking on their behalf. He was the leader of the National Flood Prevention Party. He had been first elected to Datchet Parish Council (DPC) in 1986 when the Maidenhead, Windsor and Eton Flood Alleviation scheme (MWEFAS) project was being developed. At that time RBWM repeatedly refused to talk to DPC on the basis that the channel did not cross the parish boundary. Only after the channel was realigned into Datchet (in order to avoid Eton College land) did RBM start talking to DPC. Mr Larcombe had given evidence at the MWEFAS Planning Inquiry in 1992 and intended to give evidence at the forthcoming RTS Planning Inquiry.

In 1992 the Inspector stated 'It would be very embarrassing to all concerned if the intended discharge capacity of the FRC was not achieved' but it was to be another ten years before that truth became apparent. Not only was the Jubilee River unable to carry its design capacity but the channel was also sub-standard in design, construction and operation. Structural repair costs after first use in January 2003 at only two thirds capacity totalled about £10m. Manor Farm Weir was designed and built with the curve reversed, the Slough Weir repair cost £680,000 while the Myrke embankment rebuild in Datchet cost £1.3m to repair. The designers shut up shop and eventually contributed £2.75m in an out-of-court settlement. The promise of enhanced protection for two hundred homes in Datchet (as submitted in evidence by the 'experts' at the 1992 Inquiry) was proven to be incorrect and new houses in Ellesmere Close were a monument to professional incompetence. He believed the Environment Agency had neither admitted to nor learnt from their previous blunders and it was now at risk of repeating the mistakes of the past.

Since the Jubilee River was constructed and Maidenhead and thereabouts has been `protected,' ever more development had been permitted on flood plain in the area. However displaced flood water had to go somewhere and it went downstream via the man-made and shorter Jubilee River channel. Attenuating features had been bypassed and the accelerated flood water swamped undefended villages, arriving earlier, rising more quickly and peaking at a higher level. Consequently downstream communities previously unaffected by flooding since 1947 had been submerged in 2003 and twice in 2014; and these were not bad events in comparison to 1947 flood levels.

The recommendations from Clive Onions’ 2004 'Mechanisms of Flooding Report' had not been implemented and had still not seen a report on the 2014 flood events. This was now a duty on the lead local flood authority under the Floods & Water Management Act 2010 Ch. 29 Part 1 (3)  ...  view the full minutes text for item 93.

That under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the remainder of the meeting whilst discussion takes place on items 5-6 on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraphs 1-7 of part I of Schedule 12A of the Act

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the remainder of the meeting whilst discussion takes place on item 6 on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraphs 1-7 of part I of Schedule 12A of the Act.

To consider the Part II minutes of the meeting held on 5 September 2017