Cllr Charles Fifield spoke at Cabinet on this item as follows:
I too am glad this report has finally made it to Cabinet and pleased with some of the works that Cllr Shore outlined when she spoke have taken place and whilst there is a lot within the Report that I am pleased with there are several matters which still are a cause for concern within the report:
- There is specific reference to an Evacuation Plan for the residents of Acton Bridge, Weaverham and Crowton, both in the Cabinet Report and the s.19 report itself. Whilst this is welcome, the s.19 report appears to put equal responsibility between the Borough and Parish Councils. This cannot be right, the Borough Council has the clear legal responsibility and whilst the Parish Councils will do what they can and are working hard on their resilience plans they simply do not have the same level of resource. Please don’t forget for the first 2 days of the floods the principle resources on the ground ended up being my 2 fellow ward Councillors and a number of volunteers from the Parish Councils, that cannot be allowed to happen again.
- The importance of the River level cannot be overstated in relation to the floods and it is extremely worrying that the Canal & River Trust who are responsible for this, only sent through their final comments to the Council so recently, indeed this final report was updated at 4.30pm yesterday, with the specific comments from the CRT in relation to the Dutton Sluice Gates. Those comments themselves are somewhat damning in their brevity merely commenting “that 6 of the 8 gates were fully open during the event by 20.25 on the evening of the 20th January 2021”. This event took place between 19-21st January, it is simply not good enough to have confirmation of which gates were open by the time we had reached peak river level, we need to know how the River levels and numbers of sluice gates opened in the week leading up to the event.
- The report refers to the River levels, the River Weaver and the Canal & River Trust, it also refers to the Manchester Ship Canal but it does not refer to Peel Ports, the owners of the Manchester Ship Canal.
- I am pleased to note within the report the Council, Env Agency and CRT recognise the need to manage water levels and acknowledge the principle that activities undertaken upstream at Northwich impact on the risk at Acton Bridge however the report does not seem to acknowledge in turn that the actions or lack of them at Dutton Sluices and further downstream, will also impact on the residents of other villages.
As such, I therefore like to propose a further recommendation, which has been e-mailed to Cabinet Members and visiting speaks, is added to the Report under 2.1:
In addition to the references to the Canal & River Trust, the Council should also be in contact with Peel Ports in order that any strategy of lowering the level of the River Weaver during flood risk times can be carried out, as the Weaver empties into the Manchester Ship Canal at Weaver Sluices and Eastham Locks.
Additional Comments:
All I was going to add, to what I have said previously, is in relation to the Evacuations Plans. The villages have worked well on the Resilience Plans but the Evacuation Plans are something over and above that, that’s why I think it’s important in terms of the Borough Council being involved with that. I think Cllr Shore has given some reassurance on that, so that will be helpful on that.
The principle thing I put through suggested further Recommendation, I appreciate I can’t formally propose that as that is something that Cabinet can consider if they wish but I really, really think we are missing a trick here in terms of the importance of the river levels.
Whatever work the Borough Council does improving drainage, working with other people, the river level is fundamental in whether the river floods and certainly the residents in the immediate vicinity of Acton Bridge and Weaverham especially, who have been in contact with me, that has been their principle concern in relation to the Sluice Gates and when those were done and what impact that had on the river levels and why there was flooding.
Again the work that gets done upstream in Northwich town centre is obviously good for Northwich town centre but it has an impact further downstream and similarly whatever happens at the Dutton Sluices would have an impact further downstream. So I would very much urge Cabinet, if they would, please consider the wording that I have gone and suggested in relation to an additional recommendation.
This isn’t the first time I have suggested it, this is the third time I have suggested it at Cabinet and it is actually precisely the same wording that I used at Cabinet for a recommendation in November last year.
I really think that this is important that the Canal & River Trust and it turn Peel Ports need to be brought into this, I think it is so important and I would hope it is something that Cabinet could get behind and it is something which because the River Weaver happens to be a constituency boundary is something we can get cross-party support in relation to this with Mike Amesbury MP and Esther McVey MP.
So I will just leave that with you, please, please, please can we not underestimate the importance of the River level and the ability to be able to control that.
In response, Cllr Shore stated that whilst she wouldn’t accept my recommendation at Cabinet, she would take my Recommendation to the Flood Risk Action Group for their consideration. Cllr Shore stated the Council is working with the Canal & River Trust and Peel Ports.
Quotes from Report:
[The Trust’s SCADA data reports that six of the eight gates (no. 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 8) were fully open during the event by 20:25 on the evening of the 20th January 2021. Gates no. 5 and 7 remained closed throughout the event due to being serviced at the time.
Without detailed hydraulic modelling of the flood event it is not possible to categorically state whether flooding would have occurred if the two gates being serviced had been available.]
[ The EA, CWaC and the Trust to continue discussions to understand whether there is scope to operate the level control structures on the Weaver to manage water levels for the purpose of limiting flood risk. To date these have been exploratory discussions which should now be formalised under the leadership of CWaC, and additional funding sought to enable dual functionality of the Trust’s water level control assets.
EA and CWaC to ensure any temporary or permanent flood management activities undertaken upstream, specifically at Northwich, do not increase risk at Acton Bridge.]
