Report by Head of Property, Place and Regeneration (attached).

The Committee considered a report by the Head of Property, Place and Regeneration (circulated previously) regarding an update on the provision of Environment Agency (EA) flood defences for Barnstaple.

The Head of Property, Place and Regeneration highlighted the following:

·       The Barnstaple Flood Defence Improvements Study and the Phase 2 Advanced Design Studies for Mill Road/Pilton Park were completed in 2016. This covered improvements to flood defences to protect Cells A and B which extend from Bradiford Water down to the River Yeo, including the Mill Road and Pottington areas of Barnstaple. The work to improve the existing flood defences would make Barnstaple more resilient and help protect the town against the effects of climate change.

·       This work was included in the EA project pipeline with detailed design work due to commence in 2021 and construction in 2023. The scheme had an estimated cost of £7m, with £5.5m coming from Government Flood Defence Grant in Aid. The funding gap of £1.5m still needed to be found from other sources, which was being investigated by the Council with EA support.

·       The EA and NDC have worked in partnership for some time to explore the upgrading of flood defences in Barnstaple. This has resulted in the delivery of new defences at Anchorwood and identified what was required on the opposite bank.

·       To refine the data contained in their capital programme, the EA carried out some analytical work and an outline cost benefit assessment was conducted in June 2021. This interrogated the 2016 model data, and used their understanding of the underlying flood risks and climate change guidance to examine the current condition and expected lifespan of flood defence assets in Barnstaple.

·       This review revealed that the current defences offer a better standard of protection to existing residential properties and have a longer residual life than originally thought. The defences should be able to handle current and future climate change flood risk (sea level rise and increased river flows) until the 2050s and with only minor works the lifetime of the existing defences can be extended to meet these demands.

·       As such, the Barnstaple flood defence programme was no longer an immediate priority for the EA. As a result the upgraded flood defences have been removed from the EA pipeline programme and the monies are no longer available. DEFRA funding was based on protecting existing properties and does not take into account the release of land for additional housing.

·       This of course had significant implications for the regeneration of Barnstaple, the housing crisis and five year housing land supply as when allocating sites and determining planning applications, sites must show that they were protected from flood risk for the life time of the development (or 100 years for residential development). The models show that the current defences would need upgrading in the next 30 years. 

·       Ongoing discussions have taken place with the EA in relation to both how we consider existing applications and those that will come forward before the realisation of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 120