Concern over flooding
Flood and Water Management Bill
The Government has issued a draft Flood and Water Management Bill detailing proposals for a new regime for flood risk management. The proposed new regime would give new powers and responsibilities over flooding and risk management to the Environment Agency as well as local authorities. The new Bill seeks to transpose the EU Floods Directive into UK law and to create a comprehensive flood management system.
Clash between national and local responsibilities
The House of Commons Committee for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has criticised the draft Bill as the Committee is concerned about how the roles of the Environment Agency and the local planning authorities will interact. At present local planning authorities are responsible for spatial planning in their area and the draft Bill also gives them a remit for flood and coastal erosion risk management planning. Local authorities will have to fit the two together and look at how best to synchronise the review and updating of their plans. The draft Bill now requires the Environment Agency to draw up a national flood management risk strategy and the local flood risk strategies will have to be consistent with it.
The Committee is concerned that the measures set out in the draft Bill over centralise the approach to water and flood management. In particular, the Committee report states that the requirement for the Environment Agency to draw up a national flood management risk strategy will transfer power to the Environment Agency “at the expense of local democratic engagement” and expresses concern that taking a national approach to flood risk may make it more difficult to develop solutions tailored to local circumstances.
A loss of democratic accountability?
The Committee is worried about the lack of detail in the draft proposals as to how this national risk strategy will dovetail with the flood and coastal erosion assessments carried out by local planning authorities. All monies and power will be concentrated in the Environment Agency and the roles of the existing Regional Flood Defence Committees and Internal Drainage Boards will be downgraded. This takes power from bodies that are democratically accountable and gives it to the Environment Agency which is a non-elected body. It also reduces the ability for local decision makers who have been democratically elected to prioritise the flood risk management measures that would best suit their local circumstances.
Local flood risk management strategies would have to be consistent with the national strategy drawn up by the Environment Agency but the draft Bill does not adequately set out how local stakeholders will be able to get involved in making their views heard when the Environment Agency is creating the national strategy. There appears to be no requirement for the Environment Agency to consult on the content of the national strategy. It is important to ensure that local people feel involved and buy into the process otherwise there is a danger that they may see the Environment Agency as having its own separate agenda and feel that the only way they can influence the agency is through challenges and court action.
Sustainable Urban Drainage
The Committee noted the new emphasis in the draft Bill on sustainable urban drainage systems (known as Suds) which are likely to become a requirement for all new development. DEFRA are consulting on whether new statutory nuisances should be created or whether local authorities should be given the power to designate Run-Off Reduction Zones. The Committee report said there was a series of unanswered questions over the capacity of Suds, which authorities would approve them, the funding arrangements for the adoption and maintenance of Suds and the potential for retro-fitting such systems. The Committee called for a clear definition of rights and responsibilities for land owners and others with regard to land drainage and the maintenance of watercourses.
The Committee also urged DEFRA to do more to consider how flood and water management and the planning system "might together more effectively prevent the reduction of permeable surfaces in flood risk areas".
Flood Resilience Measures
Other professionals are also turning their minds to the risks of flooding at the moment. This month a group of professional bodies representing more than 250,000 professional involved with the built environment including the Royal Town Planning Institute, the Royal Institute of British Architects and the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors have issued a statement calling for a more joined up approach to tackling urban flood risk. They argue that flood resilience will need to become an important measure of urban design. With indications that climate change will lead to increased flooding in the UK, flood risk management needs to be addressed at the front of the planning and development process rather than at the end. It is not enough to rely on flood defences and larger drainage conduits, flood resilience should be designed into new developments. Flood resistant materials should be used in new development schemes. Space should also be created within urban areas to allow flood water to drain without affecting residential of business areas.
This article was first published in the Property Law Journal on 23 October 2009.
