Issue - meetings

Report of the Head of Highways and Public Protection

The Cabinet considered the report of the Head of Highways and Public Protection in relation to approval of the National Flood Risk Management Plan.

The report stated that the Flood Risk Regulations 2009 require the publication of a strategy to manage flooding areas designated at high risk, in Sefton this includes Southport, Formby and South Sefton. As a Local Authority who had measures in the last strategy (2015-2021) Sefton must review progress on these actions, this review is detailed in this report. The Environment Agency are leading on an updated strategy and have developed a series of measures to address flood risk. Prior to public consultation these must be approved by the relevant Local Authority.

Decisions Made:    That the Cabinet:

(1)           approved the review of 2015-2021 FRMP measures as detailed in Section 2 to the report;

(2)           approved the new measures for public consultation by the Environment Agency as detailed in Section 3 to the report; and

(3)           delegated the monitoring of this work to Sefton’s Strategic Flood Resilience Group.

Reasons for the Decisions:

New measures have been developed in conjunction with Sefton Council and seek to address key risks. Prior to the Environment Agency consulting on these measures they need to be approved locally by the relevant local authority. Progress on the previous measures are also reported to Overview and Scrutiny as part of the annual scrutiny of Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:

The Measures went through several iterations, but it is a legal requirement that they be produced for the new plan and reviewed for the old plan.