January 21st, 2011 |
No Flooding Grant For Rochford ?
Onlinefocus reader Greenbelt kindly left a comment today which is worth making into an item on its own, so here it is:
“I read this today on the Defra web site which may be useful information for when the Environment Agency officers attends the Rawreth Parish Council meeting on Wednesday 2nd February. I have not copied the list of local councils who will receive this funding but guess what, Rochford DC is not included.
Anyone interested can find this at http://ww2.defra.gov.uk/news/2010/12/23/flood-funding/
LOCAL AUTHORITIES RECEIVE ADDITIONAL FUNDING TO PREPARE FOR FLOODS
Published on Thursday 23 December 2010 at 12:01am
£21million worth of grants to help councils protect and support their own community when managing flood risk has been confirmed by Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman.
The funds will fully cover the costs for local authorities of putting into place and carrying out new responsibilities under the Flood and Water Management Act 2010, such as flood mapping, producing risk management plans and supporting community flood awareness groups.
The funds have been allocated based on the individual risk that each local authority has. Funding for 2011/12 will total £21 million rising to £36million for 2012/13 and subsequent years of this Spending Review period.
Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman said:
“This money will go a long way to help local flood authorities identify and deal with the risk of flooding in their own communities, Each local authority can decide where the money will be of most use – it could be used to pay members of staff, to come up with plans of dealing with surface water flooding or for generally work with the public on how best to deal with flooding.”
Each lead local flood authority is set to receive at least £110,000.
Notes to editors:
1. Funding will be allocated to Lead Local Flood Authorities (LLFAs). LLFAs are established under the Flood and Water Management Act 2010. LLFAs are responsible for local flood risk management, including surface water.
2. The money will be allocated as Area Based Grant. Area Based Grant is allocated direct to each local authority. Local authorities will have complete flexibility to spend the additional funding as they see fit.
3. Amounts are allocated according to the risk each LLFA is expected to need to manage.
4. Funding is provided as part of the minimum of £2.1 billion the Government expects to spend on flood and coastal erosion risk management by 2015. Local authorities also receive funding under formula grant arrangements administered by Communities and Local Government. This year, we expect local authorities to spend about £100million on flood and coastal erosion risk management supported through formula grant arrangements.
5. The funding will fully support LLFAs in developing local flood risk management strategies; surface water management plans and priority actions; mapping, running oversight and scrutiny committees; and administering consents for private changes to ordinary watercourses.
The amount allocated to each local authority is listed below:”
Ron Oatham
Trevor Parrett
Bruce Smart
Chris Stanley
Pam Waldie
Elena Black
Rochford District Council carries out grass cutting on behalf of the County Council.
If you see a grass verge that badly needs cutting, you can report it
This is the official master document for planning policy in our district! To download it, click here
January 22nd, 2011 at 08:01
I should have added to my previous post that from the list of local authorities receiving additional funding to ‘prepare for floods’, the amounts allocated to our local authorities are:
Local Authority Funding allocation 2011/12, 2012/13 and thereafter:
2011/12 Essex £218.5K Southend-on-Sea UA £122.3K
2012/13 Essex £598.8K Southend-on-Sea UA £165.7K
January 23rd, 2011 at 06:01
Seems to me that very few district or borough councils recieve the grant but counties and UAs do .It looks like a series of mini quangoes being set up not actually doing something to alleviate flooding but merely to set up further “advisory panels”>that £580 000 or so will be spread thinly through the county ,the only advantage may be less redundancies in the public sector ! Perhaps they may reinstate the warning sirens which were discontinued last year .I suspect this is not new money but rearranged funding within DEFRA .Please can someone actually do something constructural to improve the drainage in RDC ,just ask the local population and EA will get advice free !Meanwhile the river Crouch continues to silt up at an alarming rate reducing the flow of water away from low lying communities .
January 24th, 2011 at 09:01
Alistir, that’s the first I’ve personally heard about problems with the Crouch silting up. It strikes me that the scope of the problems may be larger and more complex that people realise. Do all the appropriate authorities understand the wider issues? If not already done, may be it would be useful for residents to prepare and publish a concise summary of the issues and the actions they would like to see as a prelude to a round table conference?
January 24th, 2011 at 05:01
Yes Alistir, you may be right about monies being thinly spread throughout the county but sometimes he who shouts loudest and is quick off the mark gets results. I doubt if many district councils have had a chance to stake a claim yet, being that the grants where only announced on Dec. 23rd 2010.
January 25th, 2011 at 01:01
For the record, Shaun Scrutton’s written response at the recent CAC:
“The Core Strategy recognises the need for improvements to the road infrastructure in Hullbridge if development is to take place. In the meantime the Council certainly supports the effective enforcement of the existing weight limit restrictions”.
January 26th, 2011 at 12:01
Please note that the Lead Local Flood Authority for Rochford District Council, plus the other District Councils in Essex, is Essex County Council; and that is why RDC is not listed as a recipient of such funds. The lead for ECC Flooding issues is taken I believe by County Councillor Tracy Chapman. Councillor Chapman should be well aware of RDC area needs following the efforts of the Essex Flood Forum, who I support and whose broad objectives I share, especially for protection of the most vulnerable part of the RDC area, my own Ward, Foulness & Great Wakering. I continue to press for consistent, clear information and action from the agencies responsible for local sea wall defences, DEFRA, the Environment Agency, the MoD Defence Estates and their agents Qinetiq.
As a Member of the Crouch Harbour Authority, I can personally vouch that the River Crouch has suffered from silting and changes in channels at many points since I first sailed it some forty years ago, although I am not aware that silting is yet such as normally to slow drainage to the sea dramatically, but I shall enquire at its next meeting.
January 26th, 2011 at 01:01
Thank you Colin!
January 26th, 2011 at 10:01
I meant the upper reaches between wickford and hullbridge including the rawreth brook .The problem is an increase in weed growth on the sides which encourages more silt deposition, this can be clearly seen from the bridge at battlesbridge looking towards hullbridge .Thank you Cllr Seagers for your clarification .