There were no disclosures of interest received in matters under consideration.

Recommended –

That the minutes of the meeting held on 28 September 2021 be signed as a correct record (previously circulated).

(Su Booth – 07814 073884)

That the minutes of the meeting held on 27 September 2021 be signed as a correct record.

Any referrals that have been made to this Committee up to and including the date of publication of this agenda will be reported at the meeting.

There were no referrals to the Committee.

(Access to Information Procedure Rules – Part 3B of the Constitution)

Reports and background papers for agenda items may be inspected by contacting the person shown after each agenda item.  Certain reports and background papers may be restricted. 

Any request to remove the restriction on a report or background paper should be made to the relevant Strategic Director or Assistant Director whose name is shown on the front page of the report. 

If that request is refused, there is a right of appeal to this meeting. 

Please contact the officer shown below in advance of the meeting if you wish to appeal. 

(Su Booth – 07814 073884)

There were no appeals submitted to review decisions to restrict documents.

The report of the Strategic Director, Place (Document “G”) briefly outlines the progress made and the status of each of the remaining twenty-six recommendations from the Water Management Scrutiny Review during the last twelve months.

The Environment and Waste Management Overview Scrutiny Committee undertook a wider scrutiny review into water management across the District following the devastating winter 2015 floods. The Water Management Scrutiny Review was endorsed by the Environment and Waste Management Overview Scrutiny Committee at their meeting on 4^th July 2017 where it was recommended to be considered by the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee in their meeting on the 26^th October 2017 where it was subsequently endorsed.

Following its adoption, The Water Management Scrutiny Review included twenty-six recommendations and it was resolved that a report would be made in the following twelve months which monitored progress against all the recommendations contained in the review. Recommendations 7 and 26 were deemed complete in the last meeting on this item in November 2020. Within the November 2020 report it was again resolved by the Regeneration and Environment Overview Committee that an update report would be presented in a further twelve months.

Recommended –

That Bradford Council’s Regeneration and Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee receives a report back before the end of October 2022 which provides an update to the Councils progress of all Water Management and Resilience initiatives within the District.

(Edward Norfolk – 01274 433905)

The report of the Strategic Director, Place (Document “G”) was submitted to the Committee to provide Members with an update on the progress of the twenty-six recommendations following the scrutiny review.  The Water Management Scrutiny review came about as a consequence of the widespread and severe flood events of 2015 and was endorsed by the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee in 2017.

It was agreed by Bradford Council that an in-depth scrutiny review was carried out to ascertain the effectiveness of the Council and its partners in dealing with the flooding that affected the District.  Following discussions with Councillors and Officers, it was also agreed that water management would be looked at and a review would be carried out by The Environment and Waste Management Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

The terms of reference for the scrutiny review were agreed in April 2016 and 6 key lines of enquiry would be carried out under which the reviews’ recommendations were made.

The Water Management Scrutiny Review included 26 recommendations with the resolution passed that a report would be brought back to monitor the progress made against each one.

Recommendation 7 and 26 were deemed complete as at November 2020 and it was further resolved to report back again 12 months further on in 2021.

In 2020, water management in the District was once again put to the test with a total of over 900 flood incidents reported. 

In early 2021, several storms caused further disruption hi-lighting where processes to combat the effects of flooding had improved and where further work was needed.

Officers provided an overview of the progress and work being carried out under the recommendations including involvement of communities in flood prevention and two projects – the Begin project which was in its final year and the work carried out at Esholt to reduce risk to 20 properties and how the scheme could then be utilised in other areas of the District.

Members were then given the opportunity to ask questions or make comments, the details of which and the responses received are as below:

A Member asked about the cost of flood prevention in new developments which was to be borne by the developer and how it looked in real terms.  A specific site flood risk report was the subject of a discussion between Members as concern was raised in relation to accuracy of this and conceivably other reports.  The situation had changed since 2015 and the Member stated that there were problems associated with both local river systems.

Officers responded to say that they were surprised that the report was so far adrift and that recommendation 3 suggested that retrospective assessment and inspection was undertaken by the developer.

The Member was concerned that there appeared to be some issue with the accuracy of the data and the calculations made and requested access to the data if possible.  Officers advised that climate change allowances were set by the Environment Agency (EA) and the weighting applied to calculations was dependant  ...  view the full minutes text for item 55.

The report of the Chair of the Regeneration and Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Document “H”) presents the Committee’s Work Programme 2021-22

Recommended –

That the Work programme 2021-22 continues to be regularly reviewed during the year.

(Caroline Coombes - 07970 413828) 

The report of the ChairRegeneration and Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Document “H”) was submitted to provide Members with details of the Work Plan.  There was a brief discussion around the contents.

No resolution was passed on this item.