Issue - meetings

This cover report presents the Independent Flood Inquiry report and the proposals on how the Council will respond.

Resolved:     That the Executive agree:

(i)           That the Inquiry has achieved the aims of the Terms of Reference as laid down in Annex 1 of this report.

(ii)          That City of York Council accepts the output of the report as set out in the recommendations detailed in Annex 2 of this report.

(iii)        That City of York Council will continue to deliver a range of actions following flood debrief sessions, recommendations from the inquiry have been mapped across to these as detailed in Annex 3 of this report. Further work will be carried out to identify wider actions that may be needed to deliver all agreed recommendations.

(iv)        To allocate one off funding to assess and deliver the agreed recommendations from the inquiry report.

(v)         That City of York Council will continue to commit to close working with the Environment Agency and other partners to deliver the Five Year Plan and the emerging catchment wide solutions work. Annex 4 details the recommended approach to deliver the localised defence improvement work and further work will be brought in a later report to detail the approach to progress catchment wide solutions. It is recommended that the Flood Risk and Asset Manager acts as the council Senior User and the Executive Member for the Environment sits on the Executive Steering Group for this project

Reason:        To formally accept the findings of the City of York Council commissioned York Flood Inquiry and identify the approach to develop agreed recommendations from the report. To approve the governance approach for the delivery of the Environment Agency led flood risk management investment programmes.

Members considered a report which presented the Independent Flood Inquiry Report and proposals on how the Council would respond.

The findings and the broad themes within the Inquiry’s report were welcomed although work further work was required to work through the full range of recommendations and identify if wider actions were required.  It was noted that the recommendations had been mapped across to the Council’s rolling action list and this was being used to take them forward.

The importance of effective communication and ensuring that residents were involved and informed during such an event was acknowledged.  It was anticipated that the one-off funding referred to in the recommendations would be utilised to fund an additional role, with a remit to link with communities in order to build resilience and develop community level involvement.

Members expressed their thanks for the work of the officers, external agencies and the media throughout the flood event.

It was noted that the Chair of the Independent Panel would be invited to attend the meeting of full Council on 30 March 2017.¹

Resolved:     That the Executive agree:

(i)           That the Inquiry has achieved the aims of the Terms of Reference as laid down in Annex 1 of this report.

(ii)          That City of York Council accepts the output of the report as set out in the recommendations detailed in Annex 2 of this report.

(iii)        That City of York Council will continue to deliver a range of actions following flood debrief sessions, recommendations from the inquiry have been mapped across to these as detailed in Annex 3 of this report. Further work will be carried out to identify wider actions that may be needed to deliver all agreed recommendations.²

(iv)        To allocate one off funding to assess and deliver the agreed recommendations from the inquiry report.³

(v)         That City of York Council will continue to commit to close working with the Environment Agency and other partners to deliver the Five Year Plan and the emerging catchment wide solutions work. Annex 4 details the recommended approach to deliver the localised defence improvement work and further work will be brought in a later report to detail the approach to progress catchment wide solutions. It is recommended that the Flood Risk and Asset Manager acts as the council Senior User and the Executive Member for the Environment sits on the Executive Steering Group for this project.

Reason:        To formally accept the findings of the City of York Council commissioned York Flood Inquiry and identify the approach to develop agreed recommendations from the report. To approve the governance approach for the delivery of the Environment Agency led flood risk management investment programmes.