Agenda item - Member Involvement

To consider the following matters raised by Members:

(a)               Petitions: To receive any petitions referred from Full Council or submitted directly to the Committee;

(b)               Written Questions: To consider any written questions;

(c)               Letters: To consider any letters;

(d)               Notices of Motion: to consider any Notices of Motion referred from Full Council or submitted directly to the Committee.

(i)   Dealing with Flooding- Green Group

(d)             Notices of Motion

(i)          Dealing with flooding- Green Group

104.1          The Committee considered a Notice of Motion, as detailed in the agenda, that had been referred from the meeting of Full Council held on 27 March 2014

104.2           The Chair provided the following response:

“With respect to the first part of this Notice of Motion, the Chief Executive wrote to the Secretaries of State for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, and Communities & Local Government on the 17^th April.   I am not aware that she has received any response, as yet.

With respect to the second part, the Committee will recall that it considered and approved the council’s Surface Water Management Plan on 26th November 2013. 

The Surface Water Management Plan identifies seven hotspots as priority locations for schemes to reduce flood risk within the city.  These include locations in:

·        Ovingdean

·        Moulsecoomb

·        Bevendean

·        Patcham

·        Carden Avenue/ Warmdene Road

·        Mile Oak

·        Blatchington Mill School

Considering the localised events over the winter, a meeting of technical officers took place on 11th March with representatives from the city council and our consultants, Southern Water, the Environment Agency.  This began our technical review to understand how flood risk was managed in the recent emergency and to consider mitigation measures.

In addition, we have made an application to the Environment Agency for funding through the Flood Defence Grant in Aid and they are currently being assessed.

On the 6th of May, a meeting of senior officers with our partner agencies (the Environment Agency and Southern Water) has been arranged to agree what, if any, action can jointly be taken.   Following this, a further meeting will be organised with the relevant interested political representatives to discuss future steps to particularly reduce flood risk in Patcham”.

104.3           Councillor Theobald stated that he had pointed out at a meeting the previous day that the proposed permanent travellers site at Horsdean would only make flooding risk greater. Councillor Theobald stated that he did not believe the administration were considering such issues at the planning application stage.

104.4           The Chair replied that the South Downs National Park Authority and other partners of the council supported the council’s planning application for the permanent Horsdean traveller site.

104.5           Councillor Sykes stated that he had raised the Notice of Motion as a means to not only raise Committee awareness of the issue but also to draw attention to government Ministers of the severity of the problem, and that the recommendations of the Pitt Review had not been undertaken.

104.6           Councillor Janio stated that many of the requests in the Notice of Motion had already been or were in the process of implementation and he was concerned that the Notice of Motion was simply a political manoeuvre on a popular issue.

104.7           Councillor Hawtree stated that he was surprised at Councillor Janio’s remarks as he believed people were very concerned about environmental changes and the associated effects.

104.8           RESOLVED- That the Notice of Motion be noted.