Agenda and minutes

Venue: Desborough 2 & 3 - Town Hall

Contact: Wendy Binmore  01628 796251

Items
No. Item

98.

Apologies for Absence

To receive any apologies for absence.

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Parish Councillor Harry Clasper following his resignation from the Parish Council.

99.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 95 KB

To confirm the minutes of the previous meeting.

Minutes:

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That the minutes of the meeting held on 24 January 2019 be approved subject to the following amendments:

 

Ewan Larcombe and Ian Thompson to be added to the list of attendees and the reference to Lightmans Lane pumping station (in the 4th paragraph of page 8) to be amended to read Lightlands Lane.

 

100.

Actions arising from previous minutes

To confirm the actions from the previous meeting.

Minutes:

Brianne Vally to invite someone from the River Thames Scheme (RTS) to attend the next Flood Group meeting to answer questions on how the RTS will pass through the planning phase.

 

Brianne Vally confirmed the invitation was extended but a representative of the RTS project team was unable to attend this meeting. Brianne Vally has circulated the invitation for the next Flood Liaison Group meeting and requested attendance from the RTS.

 

Alice Keeping and Matthew Peapell to bring an update on enlarging the capacity of Ham Island Sewage Treatment Works at Old Windsor to the next Flood Liaison Group meeting.

 

The Forum agreed to carry this action forward to the next meeting as there was no representative from Thames Water in attendance.

 

The Flood Risk Manager to identify potential capital schemes that should be moved forward and then liaise with Sean Maskrey regarding potential funding streams.

 

Simon Lavin, Flood Risk Manager confirmed Parish Councils should identify potential schemes that they would like taken forward. Details should then be submitted to the Borough’s Commissioning Team. The Commissioning Team would then seek input from the service providers and the schemes would be assessed as part of the Borough’s capital works prioritisation process. Ward Members support for any schemes being put forward would be beneficial.

 

 

The Chairman to add a report on the Thames Regional Flood and Coastal Committee to the agenda for the next meeting.

 

The Chairman confirmed he would provide a verbal update during the RBWM Update item on the agenda.

 

The Clerk of the Flood Liaison Group to email the contact details of the Group’s Members to the Flood Risk Manager and the Joint Emergency Planning Manager

 

The Clerk confirmed this action had been completed.

 

The Joint Emergency Planning Manager to email Members an invitation to attend a teleconference of flood wardens.

 

Carolyn Richardson, Joint Emergency Planning Manager confirmed a teleconference would be held with invitations extended to Members prior to the start of the next flooding season.

 

The EA to circulate the link to the Improvement of Management of Water in the Environment consultation

 

The link to this consultation had been circulated.

 

101.

Update from the Environment Agency

To receive the above verbal update.

Minutes:

Brianne Vally from the Environment Agency (EA) provided an update on the RTS, and stated that there were no new matters to be discussed. She explained that a final outline design had been developed and produced; the Datchet and Horton Archaeology Survey was continuing until the end of spring 2019 and that the EA were continuing to work with partners and businesses to raise the funding required for the RTS. She added a planning application was being worked on and she hoped to update the Flood Liaison Group at the next meeting.

 

For the latest developments and the latest programme of dates, Members should monitor the RTS website as this is where all the latest information is shared, along with details of the outline design of the scheme.

 

Simon Lavin, Flood Risk Manager, asked whether a planning application was likely to be submitted without full funding in place. The Chairman stated he attended a presentation on the RTS given by David Bedlington, at the Thames Regional Flood and Coastal Committee, on the funding of the scheme and the scheme’s viability. Some partners were not prepared to commit to funding until the scheme had gained planning permission. The whole scheme was likely to be dealt with through the Surrey County Council Hub. He added that it was a critical year for the project with funding options needing provisional agreement. There were questions as to whether it was a viable scheme. If it was, it would go through the planning phase with discussion between government and local authorities ongoing. The Chairman explained that the Thames Regional Flood and Coastal Committee was waiting to hear about possible funding options and that an update would be provided at the next Thames Regional Flood and Coastal Committee meeting. He would provide an update on this at the next Flood Liaison Group meeting.

 

Councillor Beer expressed grave concern about the lack of progress on the RTS. The Chairman confirmed any concerns should be raised directly with the EA. Brianne Vally stated the structure and number of team members had now been reduced and that the current focus was on reducing the gap in funding. There might be commercially sensitive solutions which could not be shared with the public at this stage but, the EA were continuing to work hard and were looking at partnership funding options. The Chairman informed the Forum that enabling works such as the necessary archaeological surveys were ongoing. Brianne Valley stated that the archaeological surveys had begun now so that when funding was in place the scheme could begin, without the archaeological works delaying the scheme by up to two years. The intention being that once the funding gap has been resolved, all the surveys will have been completed and construction works can begin immediately without delay.

 

102.

Update from RBWM

To receive the above update.

Minutes:

Simon Lavin, Flood Risk Manager provided Members with a brief update on the proposed cleaning and CCTV survey of the Datchet Barrel Arch. He explained that Volker Highways had lifted a number of manhole covers on the barrel arch up to the ditch near Slough Road and that very little silt had been found to be present in the northern lengths of the culvert. The culvert is also constructed in concrete pipework (not brickwork) at this end. Volker Highways therefore proposed to attempt some CCTV surveys without pre-cleaning of the culvert. Ian Thompson stated he received the results of a survey carried out by WSP that showed a lot of silt. The Flood Risk Manager responded that the survey WSP carried out was at the southern end of the Barrel Arch.

 

Ian Thompson stated that some gullys were blocked by silt and water could not get into the arch. He added secondary drains had been fitted that ran across Memorial Green into a soakaway as a road gully was blocked solid and that showed there was a problem. When clear, the gullies took all the extra water but, the water did not seem to get into the barrel arch.

 

v  Action – The Flood Risk Manager to let Ian Thompson know when the CCTV survey work was being carried out by Volker Highways.

 

The Flood Risk Manager provided Members with a brief update on works to the Wraysbury Weir (located on the Horton Drain). He explained Volker Highways had been to look at the site and that the field was very wet, making access difficult. They would therefore wait for the field to dry out before carrying out the works. The Chairman said Volker Highways were looking to install sand and concrete filled bags to stem the flow passing around the weir. He added there were a number of obstructions on the Wraysbury Drain and if there was any money left over following the works being carried out, that could be used to clear the obstructions.

 

The Flood Risk Manager stated there was no update on the Local Flood Risk Management Strategy consultation and that he still needed to meet with the Council’s Commissioning Team regarding the update of this strategy. Councillor Beer queried when the meetings with Old Windsor and Wraysbury Parish Councils would take place with the Joint Emergency Planning Manager. The Joint Emergency Planning Manager confirmed that she was still looking to arrange meetings and that the whole team would want to attend the visit; they had visited Datchet and Cookham so their next meeting would be Old Windsor and Wraysbury, possibly in May or June 2019.

 

103.

Parish Flood Group Update

To receive the above update.

Minutes:

Ian Thompson announced that Harry Clasper had resigned as a Parish Councillor and as the Parish Flood Liaison Group Chairman. Ian Thompson also reported that it had been agreed that the Parish Flood Liaison Group should only be reinstated during times of flood.

 

Ian Thompson directed Members to page 10 of the agenda pack which referred to the accuracy of flood maps. He had brought to the meeting two flood maps indicating the extent of flooding experienced in Datchet during the January / February 2014 flood event. One map showed the actual flooding that occurred, and the other map was based on LIDAR mapping which showed much greater flooding than actually occurred at that time. The LIDAR map showed flooding occurring in some areas that did not flood at all and other areas that did flood were not shown on the LIDAR map. He stated there needed to be a baseline starting with the flooding event in 2014 and go forward from there as that would then be accurate. Brianne Vally from the EA explained the flood map provided by Ian Thompson did not show where the data was collated from. The EA had historic flood maps which were released through “Project 4” where the EA provided flooding details to developers and that would include data of all flood events. In the past, parish councils had raised strong concerns regarding the indicated extent of flooding experienced in 2013 and 2014 and the EA had taken these concerns on board and removed that event from the “Product 4” flood maps. There had been no further work undertaken at this stage to allow the 2013/14 flood events to be reinstated within the “Project 4” mapping and Brianne stated that she was unable to provide likely dates when 2013/14 events were likely to be reinstated.

 

Brianne Vally explained historic flood outlines would not drive planning decisions. The EA was working to amend the Flood Map for Planning and it was likely that this mapping set would be updated by 31 July 2019. The Lower Thames remodelling was ongoing. The Borough used to be covered by two different models but that had now been combined into one.

 

Ian Thompson stated that some works had been carried out on the bund at Poplars, Southlea Road. He said he would go down to the area by boat and take photographs so the Flood Liaison Group could look at the area in a different light. The Chairman suggested Ian Thompson get the photographs and then raise the issue with the EA and Thames Water.

 

Ian Thompson stated he had been through the file on the works to the underpass near Eton End School and the Borough had started discussions with an architect and he had the drawings from 2015 with a proposal from the architect. He had spoken to the architect and he was an expert in flood barriers. A number of 1 tonne sand bags were placed in the underpass during the 2014 flood event but  ...  view the full minutes text for item 103.