| SPOTLIGHT |
Local authorities will be made legally responsible for preventing surface water flooding for the first time under new legislation announced in the Queen’s Speech.
The Flood and Water Management Bill will put councils in charge of tackling local flood risk, while the Environment Agency will be in charge of flooding and coastal erosion nationally. The Bill implements the majority of the recommendations from Sir Michael Pitt’s review, which was launched following severe flooding in the summer of 2007.
However, many councils have expressed concern that insufficient money will be made available to enable them to meet their new obligations.
The Local Government Association warned that councils will not save money in the future if their areas are better protected, as councils do not have specific budgets for clearing up after floods and so cannot convert any current funds into future “savings”. “Councils need the funds to support these additional burdens,” it added.
The LGA also criticised the Bill’s proposal that sustainable drainage systems (SUDS) are to be considered for new developments to help stop surface water flooding.
“We would strongly resist adding unnecessary bureaucracy to the planning processes by forcing county councils to set up an approval process for SUDS,” the LGA said. “Planning authorities are more than capable of making planning decisions without this added, unnecessary burden.”
The Local Government Information Unit meanwhile expressed concern about the lack of clarity on the powers for local authorities to bring together the multi-agency partnership as envisaged in the Bill.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has released a factsheet announcing its commitment to funding new burdens on local authorities resulting from the new Bill, and said it will monitor the situation as implementation proceeds.
