To receive the above verbal update.

Brianne Vally, Environment Agency, gave a verbal update. Starting with the catchment situation, as of the previous day, the Thames Catchment received about 60% of the average rainfall for June. Despite this, the river flows had decreased at all sites across the Thames River catchments where data was available. She stated the data is available under water situation reports on the gov.uk website if anyone required more data.

Brianne Vally then moved onto works being conducted primarily in the flood elevation scheme in parts of Maidenhead, Windsor, Eton and Cookham Flood Alleviation Scheme as well as works around the Jubilee River. This scheme reduced the flood risk to approximately 3,000 properties.

Brianne Vally then explained that the retaining walls of the Jubilee River channel south of the A4 Bath Road were deemed to be in poor condition. Therefore, Bam Nuttall (contractors to EA) would be making repairs, starting in mid-July and to be completed by September 2022. She reassured that there should not be any road closures or disruptions.

Brianne Vally conveyed that there were some repairs on the Moor Bund and Sailing Club Bund and the flood wall in Cookham. Work on the bunds were substantially completed with some seeding and turfing being carried in the near future. Work had also started on installation of an access track to facilitate the deployment of pumps in the event of a flood. This was expected to be completed by mid-August. On the Cookham flood wall, several surveys and inspections took place to analyse any defects and to make repairs. Repairs to defects in mortar joints and seals and regular monitoring was the chosen recommendation. While a schedule on these repairs had not been formulated yet, Brianne Vally stated she would be able to provide an update on these repairs at the next Flood Liaison Group meeting.

Brianne Vally then stated that work needed to be done on the north Maidenhead bund (south of Battlemead Common). An assessment was being carried out, mostly involving hydraulic modelling of the area. She stated a detailed assessment and report was being prepared with the initial outputs of that work expected to be available in the autumn of 2022.

Brianne Vally then presented an update on the Datchet to Hythe End Flood Improvement Measures Project. She started off by covering the EA Project Lifecycle. So far, Strategic Assessment (Gateway 0 on the EA Project Lifestyle) had been completed.

Brianne Vally then gave a summary of the upcoming works culminating by the completion of the Strategic Outline Case (SOC). She explained works that had taken place to date including putting adequate resources in place and setting-up the project team, establishing the principles of the governance arrangements between EA and RBWM. The purpose of this stage, the initial assessment, was to confirm the strategic context for the project, making the case for change and obtaining direction of travel for this project. The EA were finalising the scope and procurement, which involved reviewing and obtaining data from the River Thames Scheme project team. After this would be completed (by July 2022 according to the schedule), EA would work with its contracted partner Jacobs to develop the Strategic Outline Case. This was to be scheduled from August to November 2022.

The next stages were to review and approve the Strategic Outline Case (December 2022 to February 2023) and then sign it off by March 2023. The Environment Agency informed the Forum that it would not look to commission new technical information at this stage. Brianne Vally explained that Jacobs will be reviewing economics and damages assessment data to inform the amount of government Grant-in-Aid funding this project was eligible for on top of RBWM’s contributions. Jacobs would also carry out a coarse review of the flood risk management options including options received by members of the public following the joint EA/RBWM letter which went out on 9 February 2021.

If the Strategic Outline Case would be approved, the EA Project Lifecycle would move onto the ‘Appraisal’ stage (starting with the Outline Business Case). Several options would be analysed to optimise the best value for money.

The Chairman asked when the viable options for the EA Project would be reviewed as well as when the public would be informed about this. Brianne Vally responded that the technical assessments by Jacobs would be done between August and November 2022, namely the damage and initial benefit assessments, and then analysing the options for the next stages.

The Chairman then asked if there was opportunity for interested parties, such as Parish Councils, to submit suggested ideas to EA. Brianne Vally stated that EA were seeking to establish a stakeholder engagement group towards the end of the Strategic Outline Case stage and at the beginning Outline Business Case. At around spring 2023, EA would seek to establish direct forums to discuss the works and options.

The Chairman suggested that Parish Councils go to RBWM and Brianne Vally with any suggestions that they would like EA to consider.

Councillor Baldwin asked if Brianne Vally or Thames Water could speak to the investment requirements to prevent the discharge of raw sewage when the systems had to cope with flood water. Denise Kinsella,Thames Water, gave the answer by stating that it was a long-term objective which Thames Water was working on to prevent this issue. The Chairman suggested that Denise Kinsella circulate a document to the Forum, including Councillor Baldwin.

ACTION:Denise Kinsella to circulate information regarding river discharge to the Panel and Councillor Baldwin.

Councillor Baldwin followed up by asking who RBWM would need to contact in EA to open up resources so that they could fully participate in planning applications. Brianne Vally replied that she would provide some contact details to direct Councillor Baldwin’s enquiries.

ACTION: Brianne Vally to provide contact details to Councillor Baldwin on resources for planning applications.

Councillor Brar asked Brianne Vally asked when the new flood boards for Cookham would arrive. Brianne Vally was uncertain of the exact time. She explained that while replacement flood warning signs for Cookham and Bisham were ordered, the signs did not met the EA’s expectations. Once EA had resolved this, Brianne Vally stated she would be able to confirm the estimated time frame.

Councillor Walters asked if Brianne Vally was aware about the nature of the flooding in Holyport and Moneyrow Green and was working on a scheme to alleviate this. Ben Crampin, RBWM Flood Risk Manager, stated that the answers would be given during his RBWM update later on in the meeting.

Parish Councillor Ian Thompson asked a couple of questions. Firstly, he asked if Brianne Vally was intending to bring the communities on the Thames riverside into the discussions with RBWM regarding the scheme proposals that EA were intending to put forward. Secondly, he also asked if the parish communities of Wraysbury, Datchet, Horton and Old Windsor as well as communities in the Runnymede area were to be included as part of the discussions. Brianne Vally replied that there would be an external stakeholder engagement group which was intended to be a gateway for passing on and receiving information directly from the relevant areas.

Parish Councillor Ian Thompson then asked precisely when the work would begin. Brianne Vally stated it was hard to determine at the moment; but she stated that once the Strategic Outline Case was completed, EA would then have a better understanding of what the next phases were and then ultimately work would begin. Victor Freeney, Environment Agency, explained each stage of the EA Project Lifecycle, namely what work would be done at each stage. He added that there were several stages in the Project Lifecyle that needed to be completed before construction could start and therefore exact dates could not be determined yet.

Laura Regazzacci asked if Brianne Vally was aware Cain Bioengineering Hydrology Report of the Eton Wick catchment. Brianne Vally stated she was aware of the report was in production. She then stated she was open to taking a look at it if Laura Regazzacci forwarded it to her.

ACTION: Laura Regazzacci to forward information relating to the Cain Bioengineering Hydrology Report to Brianne Vally.

Regarding river channel one being removed due to a lack of partnership funding, Councillor Larcombe asked if a similar situation would occur again. Brianne Vally replied that funding for channel section one was unaffordable. She then explained that EA were collecting data from the wider River Thames Scheme, in which she believed the data for channel section once would be revisited. As far as she was aware, Brianne Vally was uncertain of the funding position changing or whether it would make it to the next stage of the EA Project Lifecycle. Victor Freeney then explained the economic appraisal, namely the sources of funding for projects and schemes.