Latest news with #StormHenk
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Will anyone miss a council flood committee?
On its first day in charge of Lincolnshire County Council Reform UK abolished one of the authority's most important and powerful committees. The Flood and Water Management Scrutiny Committee oversaw nearly every aspect of flood defence in a county that has been devastated by flooding in recent years. Despite cross-party pleas to save it, Reform UK's new council leader Sean Matthews said he wanted to save money and "streamline" the authority. But will scrapping the committee make any difference to the experiences of those who live with the threat of flooding? Forget politics for a second. Let's start with geography. When it comes to flooding, Lincolnshire is one of the most vulnerable places in Britain; this low-lying region is criss-crossed by a complexity of rivers and drains. The county also has more than 50 miles (80km) of coastline and nearly all of this needs defending from the North Sea. Every drop of rainfall that falls on Lincolnshire must be managed. This means either pumping it out to sea via the river and drainage network or diverting water and storing it. And the flood risks are far from being theoretical. In recent years Lincolnshire has been battered by a succession of powerful weather systems. Most notably Storm Babet and Storm Henk between October 2023 and February 2024, when 900 homes were flooded and 13 river defences were seriously damaged. According to the Met Office, this part of the country recorded its wettest ever winter on record, experiencing a month's rain in just a 24 hour period. No one ever lost sleep over the scrapping of council committee, right? Well, drive through this watery landscape on a rainy November morning and you might see their point. Conservative councillor Ian Carrington, who sat on the Committee said "it was very unfortunate" that it had been scrapped. "The committee did not just listen and scrutinise, it took steps to improve the protection that the people of Lincolnshire enjoy from the scourge of flooding", he said. Defending Lincolnshire from flooding involves a number of public bodies as well as specialist officers from the Council. These include The Environment Agency, which plays a leading role in protecting people and property. There are also at least 15 Internal Drainage Boards or IDBs. These IDBs have specialist local knowledge and operate hundreds of pumping stations, sluices and flood gates. There are lots of moving parts in a flood defence plan. The Flood and Water Management Scrutiny Committee was there to try to make them all work together. It made recommendations, including calls for more government money and it would hold to account the myriad private and public bodies. The Flood and Water Scrutiny Committee met four times a year. It involved at least 18 councillors and dozens of other specialists. These were drawn from the council itself, from the IDBs, The Environment Agency and private companies such as Anglian Water. Conservative councillor Ian Carrington said the recent experiences of big storms in Lincolnshire demonstrated the need for the committee: "When you have been through the appalling experiences that many of our local residents have been through, any dilution of our ability to improve the situation has to be deeply worrying." he said. But Reform UK scrapped the committee on its first day in charge of Lincolnshire County Council. The new administration said the change would save money and simplify the council. Reform UK Council leader Sean Matthews, said that flooding will now sit within the Environment Committee, which already deals with issues such as waste and pollution Mr Matthews said: "I want there to be more meetings about flooding in the county and by moving it under the umbrella of Environment we get to talk about it more." he said. "We will work longer and harder on flooding than ever before." he added. Labour group leader Councillor Karen Lee described the change as "Reckless, foolhardy and wrong". As the climate changes, as rain events become more frequent and more severe, it is clear that properties in Lincolnshire are under an increasing threat. The immediate responses to flooding incidents are unlikely to change in the short term. There are well-rehearsed protocols between the council, the fire service and the police. Seasoned professionals who work hard to mitigate the worst of what nature throws at us. But the longer-term strategies of defence, response and recovery will also need to function effectively; what we learn from flood events, whom we hold to account and where we spend the money to improve protection for communities. All this against a backdrop of tightening budgets. Even the government's Environment Secretary Emma Hardy has described the state of the UK's flood defences as being in the 'worst state on record' Despite resounding criticism from its political rivals Reform UK is arguing that its "simplified" approach will better serve the thousands of vulnerable residents, some of whom look nervously to the skies every time the clouds darken. Cllr Sean Matthews denied he was watering-down the council's role: "Absolutely not. We were elected on a mandate of reducing waste and simplifying the council, and this [decision] will do that." Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here. New Reform council abolishes flood committee Repairs 'to cost £45m' after storms hit county 'Do something for a change' - Flooded farmers Lincolnshire County Council
Times
14-05-2025
- Climate
- Times
How beavers can help win the fight against floods in Lincolnshire
After weeks of dry weather, the trickle of water in the West Glen River does not look as though it could cause havoc. But during Storm Henk in January last year it took only a few hours for this stream to become a torrent, inundating a garden centre in the Lincolnshire village of Baston. Archie Struthers, chief executive of the nature restoration company Nattergal, said the West Glen is a prime example of the way in which Britain's water courses have been mismanaged — straightened and deepened to whoosh rainwater away from farmland as quickly as possible. Struthers wants to turn this river into an example of how to manage water better and to reduce the risk of flood at a time when climate change
The Guardian
11-04-2025
- Climate
- The Guardian
Weatherwatch: How one council seems to skirt a key factor in UK winter floods
Even though sunshine records are being broken at the moment, the nightmares for those whose homes were affected by record rainfall earlier this year continue and seem unlikely to end. Local authorities have a statutory duty to review what happened when floods occur and properties are damaged. One such authority was Central Bedfordshire council (CBC), in the middle of the government's growth corridor between Oxford and Cambridge. Its recent report into Storm Henk, which caused widespread flooding in January, said the cause was heavy rain on saturated ground overwhelming drains, sewers and streams. There was, however, no reference to the thousands of houses, huge warehouses and estate roads that have been built at an unprecedented pace in the area even before the government's new growth plans materialise. Fields used to absorb and hold flood water, but now when it rains all these hard surfaces discharge runoff straight into old drains, water courses and sewers that are overwhelmed. Those who live downstream, whose homes were never previously flooded, find themselves in the firing line with every exceptional storm. Curiously the report by CBC, whose councillors permitted all this expansion with no apparent provision to protect downstream settlements from flooding, makes no mention of the issue.
BBC News
19-02-2025
- Climate
- BBC News
Repairs set to start in Huddersfield on landslip-hit road
Repairs have begun on a West Yorkshire road which was forced to close after a landslip last year. Dalton Bank Road, in Huddersfield, was damaged during Storm Henk in January 2024, with some of the road collapsing towards the River Colne Council said its highways team had carried out extensive investigations with a geotechnical groundworks specialist to find a solution. The repairs are expected to take about 10 weeks with the road due to fully reopen in spring, the council said. It said engineers would construct a burr wall to support the highway where the landslip Ahmed, Cabinet Member for Environment and Highways said: "We would like to thank residents and business owners in the area for their patience and understanding during the extended road closure and whilst these key repair works take place and apologise for any further inconvenience caused."The existing diversion for motor vehicles will remain in place, but pedestrians and cyclists will continue to have access around the site on Dalton Bank Road during the works. Residents will still be able to access their homes from Nettleton Road and Bog Green to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North or tell us a story you think we should be covering here.
BBC News
10-02-2025
- Climate
- BBC News
Burton Joyce: Have villagers been saved from constant flooding?
Last year, residents in a Nottinghamshire village called for change after their houses were surrounded by flood water nine times in the span of three Joyce has been brought to a standstill time and time again with floods sweeping through its Palmer said he "almost broke down" because of a failure to pump water out of his home during Storm Henk in January 2024. Niki Papa said she nearly had to Harriet Brown said dealing with the flooding had left her husband, Adam, mentally and physically told the BBC the next flood would be one heavy rainfall away, unless action was following month, Nottinghamshire County Council announced it would fund a £50,000 natural flood defence scheme, in partnership with the Trent Rivers Trust. Councillor Neil Clarke, the council's cabinet member for transport and environment, said it was a "relatively small" sum, but that it had an outsized impact because of the situation which faced the village."Where you have a project that is going into millions of pounds, it quite often will not just be natural flood management, it will involve hefty infrastructure with pretty major pipework and pumping systems," he said."It wasn't really required because in this particular case [the water flow] came from the hillside and therefore you've got the natural gravity of water."The way to try and minimise flooding was to slow that water flow down and dissipate it so that it wasn't gushing down."With the site already containing natural woodland, the council felt this would be the most appropriate response to Storm Henk, according to Clarke. Upstream from Burton Joyce, at Crock Dumble, a new wetland area, a bund, two restored ponds, and 20 leaky barriers were Wilding, the natural based solutions manager at Trent Rivers Trust, said the intent was to turn the area into a "sponge" to absorb water and slow the wetland area and bund slow rainwater, the ponds store excess water and slowly dissipate it into the nearby woodland, and the leaky barriers mimic the barriers built by beavers."Rather than water getting from A to B incredibly quickly, we're slowing the flow and temporarily storing it in areas where we haven't got infrastructure like houses and roads," Mr Wilding design was also intended to be resilient: "If you were to implement a civic engineering solution to flooding, that wall is going to need maintenance over time.""It's going to be quite expensive to implement, whereas if we can use the natural processes that were previously in place in our countryside, they will almost look after themselves." Will it work? Judging the effectiveness of these measures is not as "complicated as you might expect" according to Mr Wilding: "What we look for is wet ground, we're looking to see where water has been."This includes signs of trash-lines, where sticks and leaves have been deposited by flowing water. It also involves checking water pipes."[To find this] we could use fixed point photography, we could use time lapsed cameras, we could use level logging equipment," he said."It checks that water is going where we think it might go under certain conditions."What we can do is infer that what we've done is store water at a critical time and slow that flow of water down towards the village." However, the word 'infer' carries a lot of weight, because empirically proving a difference through advanced modelling is "expensive", says Mr Wilding."We are confident that the principles behind natural flood management are sound and that our efforts are protecting properties downstream," he said."Consultancies would charge a reasonable amount of money to go into the depth needed to 'empirically prove' something."It's not always needed, but sometimes that evidence is useful for future funding bids." The residents It is one thing to have an expert highlight the indicators that a scheme is working, it is another to see whether those impacted have felt a tangible flooding in January this year provided the project with its first real litmus Hollowell, a flood warden in Burton Joyce, said there had "absolutely" been an improvement downstream from Crock Dumble."The flooding from the riverside [last month] did come quite high, but we didn't have the same flooding at the point in the village where the Crock Dumble is," she said."With climate change, we've got this increasing prevalence of heavy downpours and flooding, and it's causing a lot of damage to people's properties, but it's also emotional [damage].""I think £50,000 in these days is not an awful lot of money to have solved quite a big problem for the village." "It does help me sleep a lot better at night, because you're not thinking all the time about whether water will be in the house," said Glenis said there had been a noticeable difference when comparing January's floods, to that of previous years."It's been unbelievable, it's not been bad at all. There has been no flooding in the back garden, only the front, but that wasn't bad. It's been lovely."Niki Papa, a resident and owner of the local chip shop, also agreed with that assessment: "It's definitely a lot better.""I flooded several times [previously], and it was very concerning at one point, I nearly had to evacuate the house.""There was one occasion where I couldn't access the front of my shop, because it was that flooded, but luckily this year nothing as yet." The natural flood defences for Burton Joyce were paid for by Nottinghamshire County is the lead local flood authority for the village, which means it plays a key role in emergency planning, as well as raising awareness of flood Clarke said their spending priorities were correct."Flooding does appear to have minimised as a result of this project. It's about managing the water, not stopping it," he said added that natural flood defences form part of a "jigsaw" in protecting people's homes – in addition to clearing drains and gullies."What is important is that we continue working with all our partners, that might be the Environment Agency, it might be the Trent Rivers Trust," he said."We want to make sure that we can find the best ways to work together to minimise the amount of flooding."
