Agenda item

As a result of recent flooding within the District the Arun Flood Forum has been set up to investigate the contributing factors, impacts and possible solutions in a collaborative way. At the first meeting Southern Water (SW) made a presentation to the Forum and a number of questions to SW and other Forum members was asked.  This report provides an update following this meeting of the Forum. 

[During discussion in this Item, Councillor Greenway declared a personal interest as a Member of the Arun Flood Forum]

[During discussion in this Item, Councillor Blanchard-Cooper declared a personal interest as a Member of Littlehampton Town Council]

[During discussion in this Item, Councillor Wallsgrove declared a personal interest as a Member of the Arun Flood Forum]

[During discussion in this Item, Councillor Yeates declared a personal interest as a Member of the Arun Flood Forum]

Upon the invitation of the Chair, the Group Head of Environment and Climate Change presented the report, which provided an update to Committee following the inaugural Arun Flood Forum held on 26 of February 2024. The report set out the background and membership of the flood forum. Appendix 1 contained the Terms of Reference for the Arun Flood Forum; Appendix 2 provided rainfall figures for Bognor Regis from October 2023 to February 2024, which showed the rainfall had been above average; Appendix 3 contained roles and responsibilities of the various agencies; the presentation given by Southern Water was shown at Appendix 4; Appendix 5 recorded the questions and answers before and during the meeting, which was still being completed; Appendix 6 showed the notes and action points from the meetings.

          The Senior Coastal Engineer then went into further detail around the appendices attached to the report. Included in the Southern Water presentation was details of Southern Water’s roles and responsibilities; an overview of the different flooding sources and who managed those; the wastewater management plan by area and enhancements that Southern Water were promoting; the clean river and sea plan for 2025-2030, which outlined the investment planned across the District; the role of providing infrastructure for new developments; a summary of the waste water treatment works; a brief overview of their infiltration reduction plan; and an update on flooding schemes. Members were encouraged to read the whole presentation, which was felt to be informative. At the Forum it was agreed that questions asked before the meeting would be responded to in writing, to allow more time for those present to ask questions. The answers to some questions were still outstanding, and would be circulated via the flood forum once answers had been obtained. The quality of questions from Forum members and the floor helped shape the actions arising from the meeting. It was clear there was a desire to strengthen partnership working to develop an integrated approach to deal with flooding within the District.

The Chair invited questions and comments and the following points were raised by Members (and non-Committee Members given permission by the Committee to speak):

• One Member felt the tone of the meeting was very good, however the Southern Water presentation had been disappointing, with very little mention of Storm Ciaran. He felt the Chair of the Forum needed to press for answers more, and questions needed to be carefully positioned to ensure the Terms of Reference were met. Overall, he felt it was a good meeting, but improvements could be made to the Forum going forward.
• There was concern that west of Littlehampton was not included, and historically there had been flooding in this area. It was asked that East Street, Beach Road, South Terrace, Pier Road also be included. The Group Head of Environment and Climate Change explained the Forum covered the whole of Arun and this would be taken on board.
• It was felt the meeting had not been long enough, and there had not been time to get through everything. It was suggested the next meeting be scheduled for 2 – 2.5 hours.
• It was suggested the questions asked before the meeting should be provided to Members in an electronic format prior to the meeting. Further questions had arisen out of answers provided. The Group Head of Environment and Climate Change would ensure an electronic copy was sent to the Members that had requested this, and asked for follow-up questions to be emailed so that he could obtain the answers.

The Committee noted the report.