Brent Council challenged by residents on its Flood Emergency Strategy - is Brent ready for the deluge and the overflow?

 

 

Coincidentally it was at the beginning of what promises to be a very wet week that ACE Brent (Action on the Climate and Ecological Emergency) made a presentation on flooding to Brent Scrutiny Committee:

 

In what one councillor described as a powerful contribution, Kaushik Bhattacharya, speaking for ACE, said:

  

There is much to comment on across all the climate documents presented tonight, but with the potential of extreme storms this winter as a result of a growing El Nino, and overall climate change, we are forced to focus on flooding . We understand that representatives from Thames Water, Environment Agency, and Affinity Water have been invited to attend this meeting but it is a shame that there won’t be a real chance for them to answer questions from our councillors, as we originally requested, due to the very limited time tonight.

 

Our initial request for a thorough scrutiny of flood risk arose from concern about inadequate progress on the Brent Local Flood Risk Management Strategies Action Plan and this remains a serious concern. The RAG rating in the Action Plan grades 4 Amber and 26 Red out of 30 actions listed, including some basic short-term actions such as ‘Collaborate with other partner RMAs to improve understanding of flood risk interactions and identify areas where flood risks could combine to exacerbate risk.’ None of the actions are rated Green. 

Click on bottom right corner of the table for a full view of the table.

  

 

The Action Plan is a click away from the main documents submitted tonight and should have been tabled separately because it is so important. Many members of this Committee will not have read it. 

 

The photos shared tonight document flooding that has occurred during flash storms over the last decade on College Road, in the Preston Ward of Brent. The latest occurred overnight earlier this summer, just before the second heatwave, and resulted in a Tesla being written off – a vehicle used by a resident for his work as a private hire car driver, resulting in a loss of his income and increased insurance premiums.

 

 

We were shocked to discover that Brent has only a single Principal Flood and Drainage Engineer with many responsibilities that according to Appendix C:

 

Whilst statutory duties continue to be met, creates limited resilience within the service and can restrict the pace at which strategic projects, investigations and improvement programmes are progressed. Periods of annual leave or staff absence can further increase these pressures and create temporary backlogs in service delivery.

 

Is a single postholder sufficient in a climate emergency?

 

The Report designates the Head of Highways as responsible for Appendix C – Flood Risk Management Strategy – that’s a huge area covering many areas of expertise other than highways. Is that fair or adequate?

 

Meanwhile the Council continues to build, build, build; gardens are paved over; more concrete covers the borough; and our green spaces are lost without the necessary alleviation increasing the flood risk.

 

You’ve declared a climate emergency so we urge this committee to table another full scrutiny meeting specifically on the Flood Emergency Strategy and Action Plan including contributions from our Flood Risk Strategy partners.

 

 Joy Rickman addresses the Committee

Kaushik was followed by Joy Rickman, a resident in  her area for some 40 years, speaking for the Friends of Woodcock Park, She described how her community were trying to deal with the flooding and pollution of the Wealdstone Brook in a very practical way:

  

My name is Joy Rickman and I am the Chair of Friends of Woodcock Park

 

The Wealdstone Brook bisects Woodcock Park and flows through the borough eventually meeting the River Brent. It is known as a flashy river. This is because in ordinary weather it is a gentle little stream, but in rain it becomes a raging torrent. There is a massive amount of water coming down because we are on the Brent/Harrow borders - coming down from Harrow . Often the river is running at over capacity.

 

We have witnessed many flooding events in Woodcock Park as in high storm the river flows are over capacity, and further downstream we have film footage of the river coming out of bank. 

 

We have also been subjected to many sewage events and blockages containing raw sewage, wipes, fat and soap as well as diesel and other chemicals being thrown into the river along with many lime bikes. 3 years ago we had polio in the river, as a result all the children aged 9 and under had to be re-vaccinated for polio.

 

Due to the many issues, we have experienced in the river, one member of our Friends Group instigated regular quarterly meetings with Thames Water to discuss the previously mentioned issues, to seek solutions.

 

Work with us is described in the report as an example of "successful collaboration", but we do not feel fully supported by Brent Council. We ourselves set up the meetings with Thames Water to examine pollution levels.

 

Levels of flooding used to be overseen by the Brent and Harrow Flood Working group, set up by Barry Gardiner. In the light of current flood risk this group needs to be restored. 

 

Our community members have completed very significant river projects including preventing the river flooding the area around a major roundabout. This project was subject of the Environment Agency national conference.

 

Thames Water has now asked our group to attenuate 20,000 cubic litres of water in the park. We are not sure why this responsibility has fallen on us. The council did come and help us work out where the pond should be and with volunteers we came in to hand dig it. We didn't t get very far because the clay is very heavy and difficult to manage. So we now need council approval, a digger to finish the job and funding for planting.

 

With a council grant,  we have recently created a stumpery - which is a self-sustaining eco system, and we worked with 4 local schools - with 50 children, who thoroughly enjoyed the project. This area should be planted but there is no fresh water source in our park. We can pay for a pump but have nowhere on the park to store it.

 

There is huge expertise in the community but to be honest we feel on our own. Some colleagues are giving up disillusioned, and the rest of us are tired.

 

We did investigate introducing beavers to help do the necessary work - a shame the river is too polluted.  Sometimes I feel the beavers would have been easier to deal with!!

 

Prevention is cheaper than cure when it comes to flooding. We are volunteers and we are asking for more respect for and partnership with us as the people who are actively monitoring the river.

 

The presentations meant that the first part of the Committee meeting was dominated by the flooding issue which in a way was a victory for residents keen to have their voices heard on such a vital issue. The full debate, including contributions from representatives of Thames Water and the Environment Agency, can be seen in the video above.