Issue - meetings

This report provides the Executive Member with an update on the York Five Year Flood Plan and seeks feedback on its content.

Resolved:

(i)           That the contents of the updated report and the evidence presented by the Environment Agency in the session be noted.

Reason: To enable the Executive Member to receive the York 5 Year Flood Plan Update and to have the opportunity to provide feedback on all content.

The Executive Member considered a report which provided an update on the York Five Year Flood Plan and sought feedback on its content. Ben Hughes, Partnerships and Strategic Overview Manager – North Yorkshire of the Environment Agency joined officers in presenting the report.

During discussion of the item, officers:

·        Highlighted the ongoing work at Germany Beck, which is one of the flood schemes within a wider Environment Agency led programme. Depending on the advice of engineers, construction may begin in Autumn 2021 or early 2022.

·        Gave details on the Innovative Flood Resilience Programme, which has received 6 year’s funding from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and is centred on developing natural flood management systems in the Swale, Ure and Nidd river catchment areas and seeks to co-ordinate upstream and downstream flood management.

·        Referred to Annex 1’s details on the ongoing flood defence projects across the city in Clementhorpe, Bishopthorpe, Lendal Bridge, St George’s Field and elsewhere.

·        Explained that Annex 2 breaks down £102 million total funding for York’s flood defence and noted the priority scoring system used to determine funding usage.

·        Noted that business case can be made to claim back the additional costs which have been caused by the Covid-19 pandemic in the last 12 months.

The Executive Member:

·        Thanked officers for their report and work on improving York’s flood defences.

·        Expressed the need to emphasise partnership work in order to reach solutions as soon as possible.

Resolved:

(i)           That the contents of the updated report and the evidence presented by the Environment Agency in the session be noted.

Reason: To enable the Executive Member to receive the York 5 Year Flood Plan Update and to have the opportunity to provide feedback on all content.