The report of the Strategic Director, Place (Document “C”) outlines for Members the work carried out over the last year in collaboration to the catchment plan produced by Friends of Bradford Beck (FOBB) that was supported by the Environment and Waste O&S Committee in 2013.

Since the Committee meeting of March 2020 there has been cooperation on a range of projects between Council officers of various services and Friends of Bradford’s Becks (FOBB).

Recommended -

1.    That the Friends of Bradford’s Becks and the Strategic Director, Place be requested to work jointly on studies and proposals for the Canal Road Area.

2.    That the Friends of Bradford’s Becks be invited to report back in a year’s time.

3.    That this report be noted and that the ongoing collaboration between officers and the Friends of Bradford’s Becks be supported.

(Edward Norfolk - 01274 433905)

The report of the Strategic Director, Place (Document “C”) was submitted to the Committee to provide an update of the work carried out as part of the collaboration between the Friends of Bradford Beck (FOBB) and Bradford Council Officers.  The update report came to the Committee each year so that Members were kept informed on the work being carried out.

The report gave details of the work in relation to flood prevention projects.  Funding had been secured from the Yorkshire Regional Flood and Coastal Committee by working with the Environment Agency for local levy works plus additional funding was secured by the Land Drainage Department to address potential flooding.  Since the flooding events in 2015 it was necessary to strategically plan for and manage potential future flooding. 

Despite the impact of COVID, work streams and projects had continued throughout 2020 and into 2021.  The final outcome of these would be to reduce surface water run off which would then lead to less discharge from Yorkshire Water’s combined sewer overflows that connect to the Beck, thus improving the quality of water in the natural environment.

The report and appendices provided details of the work completed in phase 1 of the Bradford Beck River Restoration project which sought to re-naturalise the northern length of Bradford Beck and re-populate fish and provide a suitable habitat to encourage bats, kingfishers and other bird species.

The report included details of the plan to re-naturalise a section of Bradford Beck between Poplars Road and Briggate.  By carrying out work to divert water around a culvert which was in a state of serious disrepair, it was anticipated that the risk of flooding to nearby properties, highways and infrastructure could be mitigated as the culvert was likely to fail in future flooding events.  The Beck would be realigned to provide additional flood water capacity and contribute to the aims of the Water Framework Directive to improve water quality.  The project would  provide more grassland, woodland and wetland which would encourage species diversity in a naturalised, stable habitat.

Land drainage and the problems connected to it were explained so that Members would have an understanding of the responsibilities and with whom these lie.  The Council was responsible for drainage on land it owned but private landowners were responsible for the drainage on their land.  The Council could provide advice and guidance and in the event of an issue due to maintenance on private land, it had enforcement powers but the time taken was lengthy for action to be completed.  There were several stages involved if a landowner defaulted on any order which could take years to resolve.

Updates were provided on progress of two EU projects.  The BEGIN project which involved a linear park along Bradford Beck to restore a more natural environment as well as retention of natural flood plain areas, introduction of new areas and to enhance the existing greenspace with sustainable drainage incorporated into new developments.   The LIFE Critical project (Horton Park) aimed to equip older neighbourhoods to adapt to climate change and investigations were underway into the reasons that Westbrook Beck was no longer running as well as installation of sustainable drainage systems in the park (SuDS).

A meeting between Bradford Council and FOBB took place to discuss the issue of sediment pollution incidents on new developments and possible steps which could be taken to mitigate against these in the future.

A workshop called ‘Enabling collaborative Catchment Management’ was being hosted which would assist Bradford to align flood risk proposals with other infrastructure developments to help develop projects which would do more than simply reduce flood risk.

In addition to the written report and appendices submitted to the Committee, a representative from FOBB attended the meeting and advised Members that they were pleased with the co-operation received from the Drainage Team, Landscape and Highways Departments at the Council.  The Pilot Study originated as a result of funding from DEFRA to produce a Catchment Management Plan, one of only 10 in the country.  The plan was downloadable should Members be interested in the finer details.

In collaboration with Yorkshire Water, pollution watch activities had taken place between March 2020 and 2021 to look for pollution problems e.g. foul water from houses etc.  FOBB had taken 1350 photos and Yorkshire Water had carried out follow ups to investigate incidents.  Fifty five misconnections were discovered, some of which had been rectified and some in the process of rectification.

A procedure was being set up to follow up on misconnections as agreed by the Environment Agency, FOBB, CBMDC and Yorkshire Water.

Small streams in the district had been turned into culverts over time but no maps with their locations existed and due to the problems of water going either into sewers or the river, work was underway in a collaboration between FOBB and the university of Bradford to locate and map them.

Members were then given the opportunity to make comments or ask questions.  The details of these and the responses given are as below:

·         A Member commented that it was disappointing that the approach to enforcement for sediment control on new developments appeared to be passive.  As developers had considerable resources, it was considered that funding should be built in and the clean-up should be carried out and not left to FOBB and the Council

·           Officers advised that planning conditions to address the issue were being developed but the Environment Agency (EA) were the agency who had enforcement powers.  Work was underway with the EA and developers and was always discussed at pre-planning meetings

·         One Member stated that other Local Authorities take action and asked why couldn’t Bradford do the same?

·           Officers advised that they may be using different wording in planning conditions but stated again that EA were the enforcement body.  The Council could insist on work stopping if planning conditions were not being met, but as it stood, work could only be stopped if it was a public safety issue, it was still the EA who would be responsible for enforcement

·         A Member commented that it was good to see collaboration which would sort some of the issues with sediment pollution and asked whether the planning condition was already being implemented or was it still to be agreed and did the scope extend beyond the development site

·           Officers stated that they had seen it in place and the main purpose was to manage surface water.  This would also manage contamination by traffic movement but it was not its primary objective.  There were other planning conditions that existed to address this type of problem.  Planning and Highways Officers dealt with mud on the highways

·         A Member asked about the length of time before an overview would be available so it could be visualised

·           Officers stated that a visualisation was available on line for the naturalisation project but the complete details were still a few months away

·         Flood Area Plans - A Member asked what was happening further up the Aire Valley and was advised that things were happening at present and an update would be presented at the next meeting of the Committee

·         A Member raised an issue of flooding in a particular area and was advised to provide details to the Drainage Team so that an investigation could be carried out

·         There was an existing flood risk in the city centre but protection measures were already in place, other options now needed to be investigated

·         The question of resources to assist the FOBB and the university was raised but no specific promises could be made.  The Council would continue to assist.  

Resolved –

1.    That the Friends of Bradford’s Becks and the Strategic Director, Place be requested to work jointly on studies and proposals for the Canal Road area.

2.    That the Friends of Bradford’s Becks be invited to report back on its ongoing work and this be added to the 2022/23 Work Programme

3.    That the report be noted and that the ongoing collaboration between Officers and the Friends of Bradford’s Becks be supported

4.    That the Friends of Bradford Beck and Officers be thanked for their work on this ongoing project

Action: Strategic Director, Place