Appendix 'A'
Future of Land Drainage and Flood Risk Management in the Alt
Crossens Catchments - Response to the O&S Task Group Report
January 2012
The Environment Agency welcomes the opportunity to update the Overview &
Scrutiny Committee, as per the recommendation from O&S Task Group
Report (Jan 2012)
 Introduction
The Environment Agency is looking at how water is managed in the Lower Alt
with Crossens catchment so it can plan how flood risk and land drainage will
be managed in the future. It began a strategic study in 2009 to investigate and
understand flood risks in the catchments and how they are managed.
The study area includes the urban areas of Formby, Southport and Banks
along the West Lancashire coast and the extensive rural hinterland to the
east. This area is defined by large areas of low lying agricultural land that is
artificially drained through a network of river and drainage channels and a
number of pumping stations. The Environment Agency currently manages a
high proportion of these channels and pumping stations. The strategy
examines the cost, effectiveness and environmental impact of the way it
manages them.
The Environment Agency is a non-departmental public body responsible to
the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and takes its
policy direction from government. The Alt Crossens strategic study will help it
to understand how current flood risk management policy, including
governance, funding and prioritisation of resources, should apply in these
catchments.
 The process so far
During 2010 and 2011, the Environment Agency carried out several studies to
gather the information that would be needed for future decision making.
These studies looked at various inter-related issues specific to these
catchments including: flood risk, the performance of the drainage system, land
use, environmental status and an appraisal of the contribution that land
drainage activities make to the local economy.
By the autumn of 2011, the Environment Agency considered it had enough
information to set out its initial findings. These were summarised in the Draft
Consultation Document, which was used for the initial consultation.
The aim of the initial consultation was to find out what matters to the people
living and working in the area. The Environment Agency wanted to ask people
for their first thoughts and ideas. The consultation document set out the key
issues and asked a number of questions to help provide structure to the
feedback.
The initial consultation ended in January 2012.
Appendix 'A'
 Response to the consultation
The Environment Agency published its response to the consultation in June
2012.
There was a great deal of interest in the consultation and a large amount of
feedback. There were a number of areas of common concern that have
helped us understand where further work and discussion is required. These
concerns include:
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The need to protect productive land and the linked local economy.
The need for more robust and widely accepted data and evidence to
inform future planning and decision making.
The need for more information about Environment Agency working
practices and how we currently operate plant and drainage systems.
The need to focus on people and property, as well as issues of cost
and environmental impact.
The need for a well planned, coherent and inclusive process of
decision making to address the issues and concerns raised by the
community.
Some key learning points for the Environment Agency are:
 The initial phase of consultation was not managed as well as many people
would have liked.
 The Environment Agency should have been clearer that the consultation
was an ‘initial discussion’ to highlight key issues to be investigated.
 Many people felt there was not enough information available for them to be
able to make an informed response to the consultation.
The Environment Agency has used this feedback to develop a process for the
next 12 months of consultation.
 Next Steps
The process to design the next phase of consultation has taken into account
the concerns that people feedback to us in the initial consultation and the
recommendations of the Task and Finish Group from their meeting on 16
December 2011.
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O&S Task and Finish Group recommendations on future
consultation:
1. Councillors continue to be given every opportunity to be engaged in the
consultation and debating period.
2. The Environment Agency reinstates and reinvigorates its steering
group as it continues through the consulting and debating period and
investigates the many outstanding issues and factors that require a
fuller consideration before proposals can be firmed up.
Appendix 'A'
3. This steering group should develop a more relevant membership,
including elected members from different councils and different political
affiliations.
4. The Environment Agency also ensures that the steering group includes
members of the task group who have local interest, expertise and
commitment to the consultation process, namely Cllr Blane, Houlgrave,
Cropper and Barron. It should be noted, however, that this involvement
will remain independent and out of the corporate authority of both the
county and district council.
 The Alt Crossens Advisory Group
The Environment Agency has set up a new Advisory Group to replace the Alt
Crossens Steering Group. The Advisory Group’s role is to advise on, and
oversee, the engagement process over the next 12 months.
The Environment Agency would like the Advisory Group to work with it to
develop an engagement plan for consulting with all sectors in the area.
The Advisory Group membership is:
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Two members from Lancashire County Council
(County Councillors Malcolm Barron and William Cropper)
One member from Sefton Council
(Councillor Patricia Hardy)
Two members from West Lancashire Borough Council
(Councillors Paul Blane and Jane Houlgrave)
One grower from the Alt area
One grower from the Crossens area
The Environment Agency
United Utilities
The National Farmers Union
The Country Land and Business Association.
At their first meeting, the Environment Agency will ask the group if they are
happy with their membership or if they feel it needs to be widened.
The first meeting of the Advisory Group is on 5 September. The engagement
plan for the next 12 months will be developed using feedback from that
meeting. Once the draft is completed, the engagement plan will be referred
back to the Advisory Group to make sure they are happy with it.
During this process, the councillors on the Advisory Group will be able to
advise the Environment Agency on the best ways of consulting with the
members of Lancashire County Council, Sefton Council and West Lancashire
Borough Council.
Advisory Group meetings will be facilitated sessions. The group members will
be asked to participate in identifying who we need to engage with and how.
Appendix 'A'
Advisory Group members will be expected to liaise with their sectors outside
of meetings to ensure the work of the group is understood. The Environment
Agency would also like them to assist, where appropriate, with ongoing
communications and awareness raising.
The arrangements described above directly deliver recommendations 1-4
from the Task Group’s report.
 Technical Reports
We will shortly be completing a series of technical reports that set out all of
the supporting information that we used for our initial consultation.
These reports are:
 System Hydraulic Performance Report.
 Agricultural Context Report.
 Summary MEICA (Mechanical, Electrical, Instrumentation, Control and
Automation) Report
 Engineering Review and Future System Costs
 SEA (Strategic Environmental Assessment) Environmental Report
 Overview of Geomorphology and Dynamics
 Appraisal of the Existing Regime and Potential Future Changes
 Summary of Project Evidence Base, which is a summary of the above.
The full reports will be publicly available once they are finalised. However, as
the reports are very technical, we want to work with the advisory group on the
best way to present this information during the engagement process.
The Advisory Group will have an ongoing role in ensuring that we are
including all the information that is relevant to the consultation.
The Environment Agency will only make a decision on future options for flood
risk management and land drainage in the catchment after the next 12
months of consultation. Any final decisions will then form part of the overall
spending programme for flood risk management in the North West, which is
subject to approval by the Regional Flood and Coastal Committee.
Andy Brown
Flood and Coastal Risk Manager (Lancashire & Cumbria)
Keith Ashcroft
North Area Manager
September 2012