EU FLOODS DIRECTIVE STEERING GROUP –
MINUTES OF MEETING
Date:
15 January 2015
Time:
2:00 pm
Venue:
Dundonald House – Room 233
Group members:
Gerry Lavery (GL)
Catherine McCallum (CMcC)
Jonathan McKee (JMcK)
Alan Reddick (AR)
Stuart Freeman (SF)
John Irvine (JI)
Keith Jagelman (KJ)
Martin McIlwaine (MMcI)
Gabriel Nelson (GN)
?????
DARD (Chair)
DARD Rivers Agency
DARD Rivers Agency
DARD Rivers Agency
DOE Planning Policy
DRD Transport NI (Roads)
OFMDFM
NI Water
NIEA
????
In attendance:
Henry Thompson (HT)
DARD Rivers Agency
Apologies:
None
Action
1.
Introductions
GL welcomed Stuart Freeman to the Group. SF advised that he was
replacing Michael Francey as the DOE Planning Policy representative, as
an interim arrangement that may become permanent.
2.
Minutes of Previous Meeting
Agreed without change.
3.
Matters arising from previous meeting
Going through each of the actions recorded in the minutes, JMcK
reported that :
(Reference Item 5) - Rivers Agency has completed the paper to brief
Local Government on the proposed Homeowner Flood Protection Grant
Scheme and advised that the Business Case for the Grant Scheme has
been progressed to DFP for approval.
(Reference Item 6) - There was an ongoing action on Planning Service
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Action
to integrate the new detailed Flood Hazard Maps within their own map
services and to take proper account of flood risk within their development
plans and planning decisions.
Planning NI
(Reference Item 7) – Rivers Agency has commissioned one of its
engineering consultants to undertake the Belfast Tidal Flood Risk Study.
This will identify and assess all options for the management of the tidal
flood risk in Belfast and shall guide all future capital investment decisions
and the development of risk management strategies for the city. The
study report is programmed for completion in July 2015. Progress with
this study will be reported at the next meeting.
AR
(Reference Item 8) – Rivers Agency has produced a paper outlining the
key issues in regard to the gathering of flood data after significant flood
events. (To be discussed later in the meeting)
(Reference Item 8) – It was decided to postpone the Local Flood Forums
from November 2014 to January 2015. The reasons for postponing the
meetings were to enable key staff to focus on completing the ‘draft’ Flood
Risk Management Plans (FRMP) by the December 2014 deadline and
also that members of the LFFs would have sight of the ‘draft’ FRMPs and
could discuss their content at the meetings.
4.
Paper ‘Draft FRMPs – Consultation Overview’ presented by JMcK
Paper outlined the current position in the overall implementation of the
Floods Directive, the broad contents of the draft FRMPs, the estimated
costs associated with measures required to maintain and improve
drainage infrastructure and the public consultation arrangements for the
plans.
JI asked if there was any reason to be concerned that the imminent
transfer of planning powers from Planning NI to local councils could lead
to a less rigorous consideration of flood risk in development applications.
SF advised that this was very unlikely as councils will be bound to make
decisions in line with Planning NI’s Strategic Planning Policy Statement
(SSPS) which establishes the core planning principles upon which the
new councils must develop their operational policies. The effect of the
SSPS is that for the most part land-use policies will remain unchanged
and councils must continue to take PPS15: Planning and Flood Risk
(which has recently been revised) into consideration for all planning
applications.
JL asked if Rivers Agency expected to receive a significant public
response to the draft FRMP. JMcK said that this was unlikely, but that
there would undoubtedly be some response from within those
communities that have a history of frequent flooding.
CMcC commended and thanked JMcK ’s team for the hard work which
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Action
they put in, particularly over the last few months, to ensure that the
FRMPs were completed by the EU deadline of 22 December 2014. She
also recognised the contribution from colleagues throughout the wider
public sector that had contributed to the development of the plans.
5.
Presentation ‘Significant Flood Risk Areas – Identification and
Flood Risk Measures’ by AR
Presentation by AR focused on the ‘draft’ FRMP details for one of the
twenty Significant Flood Areas (Antrim) and described the:
 Catchment characteristics
 Flooding history
 Identification of the significant flood sources (fluvial)
 Flooding mechanisms
 Estimation of the adverse consequences
 Proposed flood mitigation measures
KJ asked if the ‘draft’ FRMPs highlighted other important elements of
flood risk management in regards to community resilience, multi agency
flood emergency planning etc. JMcK advised that these aspects were
addressed in detail within the plans.
6.
Paper ‘Flood Data Capture’ presented by AR
The paper, which was delivered by AR, aimed to highlight the need for
Government to capture more accurate and complete data on significant
floods to satisfy the reporting requirements of the Floods Directive and
better inform the management of flood risk. The Steering Group agreed
with the recommendation to establish a working group (comprising
representatives from each of the flood authorities, DRD Water Policy Unit
and DoE Local Government Policy Division). Rivers Agency agreed to
AR
establish the working group.
JI advised that Transport NI would probably want one representative on
the Working Group and that this person would act as the conduit for
information from each of their 17 section engineers. JI suggested that
the Group should look at the use of ‘Twitter’ to obtain information from
the public and the use of GIS referenced photographs that can be easily
uploaded to map services.
MMcI said that NI Water had a number of sections which have
responsibilities in relation to the collection and management of its flood
data and consequently it would probably need representation on the
Working Group, at least in the early stages of the project.
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Action
7.
Paper ‘Update on Flood Re Insurance Scheme’ presented by JMcK
This paper, delivered by JMcK, was aimed at bringing the Group
members up to date with current position in relation to the Flood Re
Insurance Scheme and how this may apply to NI.
8.
Paper ‘Individual Property Protection’ presented by JMcK
Paper delivered by JMcK to advise members on progress with the
proposed Homeowner Flood Protection Grant Scheme. He informed
members that the business case for the scheme had been with DFP for
some months and that it had recently asked for clarity on a couple of
points. It appeared from the latest DFP correspondence that it saw merit
in using the grant scheme to modify or even replace the Flooding
Hardship Payment Scheme. RA has concerns that creation of significant
policy linkages between these two schemes would delay the introduction
of the grant scheme and will be meeting with DFP to discuss the issue. JMcK
GN advised that there is a possibility that the Flooding Hardship Payment
Scheme may be abandoned due to budgetary constraints.
JMcK said that the logical progression would be to move from the current
position of operating the Flooding Hardship Payment Scheme (alone) to
run this in parallel with the Homeowner Flood Protection Grant Scheme
for a period of a few years before moving to the Homeowner Flood
Protection Grant Scheme alone.
GN asked if DFP was being asked to fund the grant scheme. JMcK
confirmed that DARD had the funding in place for the grant scheme if
approved.
9.
Paper ‘ Update on Flood Warning/Informing Arrangements
presented by JMcK
Paper delivered by JMcK to advise members on the current position
regarding flood warning/informing arrangements which the multi-agency
Regional Community Resilience Group have introduced to encourage
individuals and communities to be more self reliant during emergencies.
GN commended this initiative and said that from his own experience of
living in an area previously affected by flooding, this approach would
clearly be of benefit to local communities.
KJ asked if the there was an aim to encourage communities to become
self-sustaining in their approach to resilience. JMcK said that it was very
unlikely that communities would ever become completely selfsustaining/reliant but he could envisage that their dependency on
Government to drive the initiative forward could reduce substantially over
time. He added that some communities had even identified funding
sources to obtain resources to enhance resilience.
10.
Paper ‘Recent communications and consultation activity’ presented
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Action
by AR.
AR updated the group on a range of meetings held with stakeholders
since the last Steering Group meeting
11.
Any Other Business
None
12.
Next Meeting
June 2015, date to be arranged.
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