WORCESTER Council chiefs have asked its Environment Committee to delve into how to best tackle the flooding issues that have long blighted the Faithful City.
The move defers a motion from Green Party Coun Karen Lewing at Tuesday’s full council meeting which would have asked for the authority’s managing director to call for more government aid to tackle the floods.
But Labour Coun Richard Udall, who proposed an amendment to bring the issue before the environment committee first, said this outcome would see a greater, more well-informed debate and a more meaningful motion would be brought back to the council as a result.
In January’s washout, caused by Storm Henk, more than 200 properties across the county were impacted.
Coun Lewing, who is chair of the Environment Committee, claimed the cash support from the government to the public sector to tackle this issue was inadequate – with no funding made at all in some cases.
The motion originally put before councillors called for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to provide guaranteed levels of flood recovery funding for Worcester, which would be regularly reviewed.
Other suggestions included implementing natural flood management techniques along the Severn and setting up a cross-council working group to involve Worcester in discussions with other frequently flooded towns and cities.
Coun Lewing said: “With three major floods this winter and more flooding just last week, the clean-ups and repairs are ongoing when the water comes again.
“The clean-up uses a lot of council staff time who are diverted from their normal day jobs and previously, occasional flooding has allowed this approach to work.
“But in January, it was the third time the council staff were asked to work extra hours and focus on the incident recovery, rather than carrying out their normal street scene work.”
A further amendment by Lib Dem councillor Jessie Jagger asked the council to note that frequent flooding increases the chances of sewage dumps into the River Severn.
In response, an Environment Agency spokesperson said: “Working with communities and other partner organisations, including the River Severn Partnership, we are committed to implementing Natural Flood Management measures throughout the catchment where possible.
“Under the new funding round from 2021-2027, we expect to invest around £150million to reduce flood risk and better protect around 3,000 homes and businesses across the English Severn and Wye Catchment.”
