Agenda, decisions and minutes

At this point in the meeting, the Executive Member is asked to

declare:

·        any personal interests not included on the Register of

Interests

·        any prejudicial interests or

·        any disclosable pecuniary interests

which he might have in respect of business on this agenda.

The Executive Member confirmed that he had no personal interests that were not included on the Register of Interests, nor any prejudicial or disclosable pecuniary interests, to declare in the business on the agenda. 

To approve and sign the minutes of the Decision Session held on 2 October 2017.

Resolved:  That the minutes of the Decision Session held on 2 October 2017 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Executive Member.

At this point in the meeting, members of the public who have registered to speak can do so. The deadline for registering is 5.00pm on Friday, 1 December 2017.  Members of the public can speak on agenda items or matters within the Executive Member’s remit.

To register to speak please contact the Democracy Officer for the meeting, on the details at the foot of the agenda.

Filming, Recording or Webcasting Meetings

Please note that, subject to available resources, this meeting will be filmed and webcast ,or recorded, including any registered public speakers who have given their permission. The broadcast can be viewed at http://www.york.gov.uk/webcasts or, if recorded, this will be uploaded onto the Council’s website following the meeting.

Residents are welcome to photograph, film or record Councillors and Officers at all meetings open to the press and public. This includes the use of social media reporting, i.e. tweeting.  Anyone wishing to film, record or take photos at any public meeting should contact the Democracy Officer (contact details are at the foot of this agenda) in advance of the meeting.

The Council’s protocol on Webcasting, Filming & Recording of Meetings ensures that these practices are carried out in a manner both respectful to the conduct of the meeting and all those present.  It can be viewed at

https://www.york.gov.uk/downloads/file/11406/protocol_for_webcasting_filming_and_recording_of_council_meetings_20160809

It was reported that there had been noregistrations to speak at the meeting under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme.  However, one councillor had requested to speak as a ward member.  There had also been a number of written representations.

Cllr Fenton spoke on Agenda Items 4 (York 5 Year Flood Plan Update) and 5 (Gulley Management Strategy Update) as ward member for Dringhouses and Woodthorpe.  He drew attention to issues with a drainage ditch at Coeside, and asked that the important role of such ditches in surburban / rural areas be taken into account when considering flood and gulley cleansing plans.

Written representations had been submitted by:

·        Cllr Aspden, ward member for Fulford, seeking details of progress on a petition submitted in March 2017 regarding flood prevention measures in Fulford;

·        Cllr Orrell, ward member for Huntington & New Earswick, asking about measures taken to alleviate flooding in areas of Huntington;

·        Derek Wann, parish councillor for Clifton Without, querying parish councils’ emergency flooding plans and the funding available to create and implement these;

·        Dr Roger Pierce, a local resident, raising concerns about ponding and flooding around a road gulley at works on Heworth Green / Monkgate Roundabout.

Officers agreed to provide written responses to the representors in each case.

This report provides an update regarding progress on the York Five Year Flood Plan, including work carried out by the Environment Agency, since the last update in September.

Resolved:  (i)      That the update report, and the evidence presented by the Environment Agency (EA) in the session, be noted.

Reason:     To confirm that the Executive Member is updated on the progress of the flood risk management works programmes in York and is able to provide advice to ensure that wider links and opportunities are considered and built into the process.

(ii)      That the EA be requested to speed up the timetable for development of flood defences in the city, in particular the defences affected by the increased capacity of the Foss Barrier in the New Walk and Clementhorpe areas.

                   (iii)     That officers be requested to write to businesses in the area to investigate any problems relating to insurance following the 2015 Boxing Day floods.

                   (iv)    That  the Executive Member will:

a)   Write to the Chief Constable of North Yorkshire Police to follow up work on the location of Silver Command in the case of a major river flood, and the protocol relating to the maximum pumping of the Foss Barrier and;

b)   Write to Yorkshire Water requesting confirmation that the investment needed for new infrastructure to support flood defences is included in the submission to OFWAT for the next price review period (PR19).

(v)     That City of York Council (CYC) Officers be requested to review how the council can help with the Yorkshire Water awareness-raising campaigns to prevent inappropriate materials from being flushed into the sewer network.

(vi)    That the CYC Communications team be requested to look at helping the EA to include on the council website details relating to public meetings, and updates on the programmes of work for the flood cells.

(vii)    That officers be requested to follow up the need for additional telemetry in the catchment areas to enable measurement of natural flood management and other schemes to reduce the height of peak flood events in the city.

(viii)   That the next quarterly flood plan update report include an assessment of the sign-up to Floodline in the city.

(ix)    That regular updates from the Resilience Officer be brought to future meetings with the quarterly flood plan update reports.

(x)     That details of the ‘Flood Storage Areas Upstream of York’ be provided to the Executive Member at the next decision session.

Reason:     To provide the feedback requested, and ensure that the Flood Plan remains on track and that residents and businesses are kept informed of progress at each stage.

The Executive Member considered a report which provided an update on progress against the York 5 Year Flood Plan and sought feedback on all content.

Annex 1 to the report outlined work carried out by the Environment Agency (EA) since the last update on 4 September, providing further detail on progress towards delivery of new or upgraded flood defences in the city.  This included a review of high level options for each of the 29 ‘flood cells’ within York and the approach taken to prioritise measures across these cells.

An officer from the EA was in attendance, along with the Council’s Flood Risk & Asset Manager.  The EA officer gave a short presentation, the slides from which are annexed to these minutes.

In addition to the information supplied in the report, annex and presentation, Officers confirmed that:

·        Applications for the Emergency Planning Assistant role (paragraph 15) had been shortlisted, and interviews were scheduled for next week.

·        The EA’s response to the impact of climate change (Annex 1 / presentation) was to take a staged and adaptable approach, rather than maximising defences from the start.  

·        With regard to public engagement (Annex 1), the EA had arranged further meetings with residents and the Hub building would soon be open on 3 days per week, for people to view displays on the flood plan and speak to members of staff.

Resolved:  (i)      That the update report, and the evidence presented by the Environment Agency (EA) in the session, be noted.

Reason:     To confirm that the Executive Member is updated on the progress of the flood risk management works programmes in York and is able to provide advice to ensure that wider links and opportunities are considered and built into the process.

(ii)      That the EA be requested to speed up the timetable for development of flood defences in the city, in particular the defences affected by the increased capacity of the Foss Barrier in the New Walk and Clementhorpe areas.

                   (iii)     That officers be requested to write to businesses in the area to investigate any problems relating to insurance following the 2015 Boxing Day floods.

                   (iv)    That  the Executive Member:

a)   Write to the Chief Constable of North Yorkshire Police to follow up work on the location of Silver Command in the case of a major river flood, and the protocol relating to the maximum pumping of the Foss Barrier and;

b)   Write to Yorkshire Water requesting confirmation that the investment needed for new infrastructure to support flood defences is included in the submission to OFWAT for the next price review period (PR19).

(v)     That City of York Council (CYC) Officers be requested to review how the council can help with the Yorkshire Water awareness-raising campaigns to prevent inappropriate materials from being flushed into the sewer network.

(vi)    That the CYC Communications team be requested to look at helping the EA to include on the council website details relating to public meetings, and updates on the programmes of work for the flood  ...  view the full minutes text for item 25.

This report provides an update on the review of the council’s gulley management strategy, carried out at the request of the Executive Member in order to identify an efficient gulley cleansing programme, and sets out recommendations arising from the review.

Resolved:  (i)      That the proposed gulley cleansing approach set out in paragraphs18 to 26 of the report be approved.

Reason:     To improve the management of York’s gulley assets.

(ii)      That a list of those gulleys that are currently blocked and causing a risk of surface water flooding be provided to the Executive Member by the end of the month.

Reason:     So that these can be prioritised and further resources sought through the budget process if necessary.

The Executive Member considered an update report on the review of the council’s gulley management strategy, carried out at his request in order to identify a more efficient cleansing programme.

To date, more than 35,000 of the 43,690 known gulley assets had been logged, investigated and cleansed.  53% of assets had been found to be blocked, but most of the system was now operating effectively.  However, 900 assets would require wider engineering works to ensure their effective operation. 

The review work had developed digital data capture and survey methods that had been used to create an improved register of assets and understanding of their condition.  An overview of the data management tools was provided in Annex 2 to the report. The aim now was to develop an intelligent programme, based on asset needs and not solely driven by previous inspection dates and frequencies as before.  Development of this strategy would also support the council’s aim to draw down maximum incentive funding from the Department for Transport (DfT) process to deliver its highways maintenance needs, as detailed in Annex 3.

The Executive Member requested that an updated version of the financial implications in paragraph 30 of the report, clarifying the position on any additional resources required to deliver the new strategy, be published as an annex to these minutes.

Resolved:  (i)      That the proposed gulley cleansing approach set out in paragraphs18 to 26 of the report be approved.

Reason:     To improve the management of York’s gulley assets.

(ii)      That a list of those gulleys that are currently blocked and causing a risk of surface water flooding be provided to the Executive Member by the end of the month.

Reason:     So that these can be prioritised and further resources sought through the budget process if necessary.