Section 19 Report into Flooding in Castle Point

To read the full report, please click the link at the bottom of this page. 

Rebecca Harris MP, Nov 22 statement:

Following the flooding that happened on the 21st of October last year, Essex County Council as the Lead Local Flood Authority has now completed their report into the flooding, as mandated by ‘Section 19’ of the Flood Water Management Act 2010.  

The report was due to be completed in March, but delays on the part of Anglian Water in getting all the relevant data together meant its release was delayed until the autumn. ‘Section 19’ reports do not go into specifics about individual instances of flooding during an event, but analyse the general causes of the flooding and recommend actions by the various agencies responsible for drainage and managing flood risk to prevent it from happening again. It is the first step to getting the significant upgrades to our local drainage system that we clearly need.

The flooding agencies listed in the report are Essex County Council, Castle Point Borough Council, Anglian Water and the Environment Agency. Essex County Council has already accepted the recommendations that apply to them, but I am writing to let you know that I am pursuing a written commitment from all of the agencies listed in the report to agree to the recommendations, action them as soon as possible, and to keep affected residents informed of their progress.

As your MP, I am determined to ensure that everything necessary is done to protect residents’ homes from the threat of flooding and that those agencies work together as quickly as possible to achieve that goal.

It is also very important that Castle Point Borough Council use the report as much as possible to argue against damaging overdevelopment in our area. It is clear that upgrades are needed to the drainage system across the Borough and local planning policies must take this into account to prevent any further strain on our local drainage system. I have written to the Chief Executive of Castle Point Borough Council, Mrs Angela Hutchings, asking her to ensure that the necessary work on this is done as soon as possible.

NOV 22 MP CALLS ON COUNCIL TO ACT ON FLOOD REPORT TO PREVENT SPECULATIVE DEVELOPMENT 

Castle Point MP, Rebecca Harris, has called on Castle Point Borough Council to use a report released by Essex County Council into localised flooding last October to better defend the Borough against large speculative planning applications.

Commenting on the report Rebecca said:

“The flooding in October last year was devastating for the residents affected. Many families in the Borough had the nightmare of watching water seep under their doors and into their homes, unable to do anything to stop it.

I am pleased Essex County Council has agreed to follow the recommendations attributed to them in the report, but now the other flooding agencies need to do the same.

 Now Castle Point Borough Council must use this report to help prevent inappropriate housing development in our Borough. They now have proof of what local people knew anyway, that the drainage network can’t cope. It’s in black and white even before any extra houses are added. They need to use it to see off developers, who submit big planning applications on Green Belt sites, looking to exploit the fact the Council doesn’t have a local plan in place.

 I’ve called for an all-agency meeting on this to get heads around the table to try to make this happen and see off damaging unsustainable developments once and for all.” 

The report into the flooding event, where more than sixty properties and the Council Offices at Kiln Road were flooded, was compiled by Essex County Council. Amongst other recommendations, the report calls for the Borough’s Local Flood Risk Strategy and Surface Water Management Plan to be reviewed. Both documents are key documents council planners refer to when assessing planning applications.

Rebecca has also written to the Secretary of State for Levelling-Up, Communities and Housing, Michael Gove, asking him to take into account the extra time it may take to review and update the Borough’s flood risk documents before Castle Point Borough Council are able to submit a new local plan. Castle Point Borough Council withdrew their previous local plan in June.