Agenda item

The Cabinet considered a report of the Director of Environment and Transport which presented a programme of flood mitigation and climate adaptation and resilience measures.  The programme would be funded using £2m previously allocated for carbon reduction initiatives.  A copy of the report marked ‘Agenda Item 6’ is filed with these minutes.

Mr. A. Tilbury CC commented that measures to tackle flooding in the county were a priority for this administration and the transfer of funding would ensure that work could be undertaken. As a result of the large number of housing developments across Leicestershire, there was increased pressure on drainage; the additional funding would enable work to be carried out to improve this.

Mr. D. Harrison CC commended the Lead Member on the work he had undertaken in this area within a short time and stated that the additional funding would hopefully improve the situation further.

RESOLVED: 

a)    That the extent and impact of flooding events in Leicestershire over the last two years and the work undertaken to date by the County Council as the Lead Local Flood Authority (LLFA) and the Local Highway Authority (LHA), including progress since February 2025 to support communities, be noted;

b)    That the proposed use of £2m, reallocated from the earmarked reserve for carbon reduction, towards flood related activities and adapting services to help mitigate the impacts of severe weather and to increase future resilience as set out in paragraphs 27 to 29 of the report, be approved;

c)    That the requirement for £0.64m of additional permanent resource to enable the delivery of the proposed initiatives and a continued, more resilient, business as usual resource to manage flood risk impacts, building on the previous one-off resource funding allocated in February 2025, to be put forward for prioritisation as part of the 2026-30 Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) be noted and approved;

d)    That the Director of Environment and Transport, following consultation with the relevant Cabinet Lead Member and the Director of Corporate Resources, be authorised to make decisions and finalise the details of use of these funds and adjust priorities within the key focus for this funding.

(KEY DECISION)

REASONS FOR DECISION

In July 2025, the Cabinet decided to reallocate £2m from carbon reduction work to flooding mitigation initiatives and to adapting services to mitigate the impacts of severe weather events.

Recent flood events over the past two years, as outlined previously, have had a significant impact on many communities across Leicestershire and this in turn has placed substantial pressure on the resources of the County Council in its capacity as the LLFA and the LHA in trying to support those communities.

The LLFA’s and the LHA’s resource is focused on statutory requirements.  Whilst the LLFA will endeavour to do everything it can to support communities in the management of local flood risk, it should be emphasised that the LLFA is not responsible for, not is it required by law to, resolve all flooding matters.  The LLFA does not receive funding for this purpose.  Likewise, the LHA applies a risk-based approach to gulley cleansing to the best of its capabilities within the available resource levels.

Additional one-off funding for temporary resource, allocated as part of the 2025-29 MTFS, as set out in paragraphs 22 to 24 of the report, has helped to manage some of this pressure.  However, it is recognised that the higher level of demand in this area, including work as a statutory consultee in planning, projects and investigatory work, as well as work with communities, has become business as usual.  In order to sustain this work and deliver the proposed £2m programme, it will be necessary to make the one-off funding permanent.  Therefore £0.64m of permanent resource is proposed for consideration as part of the 2026-30 MTFS process.

Previously, the Authority has been unable to resource work to carry out a detailed review of the Council’s climate risk register, which will be critical to assess the impacts of climate change and consider appropriate mitigations, particularly in relation to the Council’s own services.  The reallocation of part of this funding to this task will provide the Authority with necessary resource to progress this.