Agenda and minutes

The meeting was opened at 1001 by the Democratic Services Manager, and with the agreement of those Members present in the Council Chamber, the meeting was ADJOURNED until 1015 to allow those Members that had been held up by an incident on the A1 to arrive for the meeting.

The meeting reconvened at 1015 and having been moved and seconded, and following a vote it was AGREED that Councillor Nikki Manterfield, Chairman of the Rural and Communities Overview and Scrutiny would be the Chairman for this Extraordinary meeting.

Having been moved and seconded, and following a vote, it was AGREED that Councillor Ian Selby, the Chairman of the Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee would be the Vice-Chairman for this Extraordinary meeting.

The Council welcomes engagement from members of the public. To speak at this meeting, please register no later than 24 hours prior to the date of the meeting via democracy@southkesteven.gov.uk.

There were no public speakers.

Apologies for absence had been received from:

Councillor Steven Cunnington

Councillor Penny Milnes

Councillor Murray Turner

Councillors Harrish Bisnauthsing, Richard Dixon-Warren and Tim Harrison were present as substitutes.

Members are asked to disclose any interests in matters for consideration at the meeting.

There were no disclosures of interests.

To provide Members of the Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee & Rural and Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee with a report on the Council’s response to localised flooding resulting from Storm Henk in January 2024. The report also provides information on the Council’s recovery stage of its response.

The Leader of the Council introduced the report detailing the response to ‘Storm Henk’. The need for the meeting had arisen as the Deputy Leader had asked the Chairmen of both the Rural and Communities and Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committees to suggest a debrief following the events of Storm Henk. As the topic of flooding was relevant to the two Committees, it was felt that a Joint Meeting was the best way forward.

Sympathy for all residents impacted by the flooding was expressed, alongside thanks to officers who had been involved with setting up an incident management room. Thanks were also extended to the Chief Executive, Corporate Management Team, and Streetscene for the roles they had played. Staff from almost every team across the Council had been involved in helping with the floor relief.

The Cabinet Member for Leisure and Culture was also highlighted as someone who had ensured the smooth running of the floor relief effort to residents.

Unprecedented levels of flood water had been seen in the district due to Storm Henk coming so soon after the impact of Storm Babet. Within an ordinary year, there were not a high instance of floods, but due to the sheer number of floods provoked by Storms Babet and Henk, several were being investigated under Section 19 of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010. Approximately 800 properties had been flooded.

The Monitoring Officer presented slides outlining the impact of the flooding. The following points were highlighted during the presentation:

·         Lincolnshire County Council (LCC) was the lead flood authority in Lincolnshire and had the statutory responsibility for Section 19 of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010. LCC also employed an Emergency Planning Team.

·         The Lincolnshire Resilience Forum (LRF) was a collective of Category 1 and 2 responders as identified in the Civil Contingencies Act. It included all of the Lincolnshire districts, LCC, emergency services, flood agencies, internal drainage boards and others.

·         The LRF monitored the emerging flooding situation on a County wide basis. They liaised with the LCC Emergency Planning Team and following this a Strategic Co-ordination Group (SCG) and a Tactical Co-Ordination Group (YCG) was set up. The first meeting of the SCG was on 2 January 2024, with the TCG meeting later on the same day. Meetings of those bodies continued for the rest of that week until Friday 5 January 2024.

·         An emergency was not declared in South Kesteven that week, so South Kesteven District Council (SKDC) decided to proceed with an emergency planning group involving the Chief Executive and Directors. The emergency group met in Grantham at SK House and utilised staffing resource from other areas of the Council.

·         The group relied heavily on intelligence from a range of sources including, but not limited to, Ward Members, public, Government live mapping system, flood alerts, and feedback from SCG and TCG and other partners. A dedicated email account was established and was overseen by dedicated administrative support.

·         Every area with a live flooding risk was given  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19.

There was none.