‘Funding pressures’ will impact ability to tackle flooding

Birmingham Council has admitted that financial pressures will impact its ability to tackle flooding following a summer marked by ‘extreme’ weather events.

Green Party councillors said just a few weeks ago that communities had been pushed to “crisis point” amid such events and argued Birmingham needed to “urgently improve the city’s resilience”.

Labour councillor Nicky Brennan also warned that residents in certain areas are ‘suffering sleepless nights’ amid flooding fears after dozens of homes in the north of the city ended up being hit torrents of water in August.

But despite these alarming scenes during the summer, Birmingham City Council (BCC) has acknowledged in a new report on flood risk management that funding pressures at the authority “has impacted in the level of service”.

This includes the delivery of projects, ongoing maintenance and management of historical flood assets, which help manage risk of flooding.

“This will inevitably have an impact on risk of internal flooding and wider infrastructure,” the report went on to warn.

The council also revealed that it will be more difficult in the future to fulfil the duties under the Flood and Water Management Act and help provide emergency response.

“Non-statutory services need to be re-assessed, such as the provision of sandbags to formal flood action groups on request,” it added.

Against this backdrop, the council said it will adopt a “more focused, risk-oriented strategy” for inspections and maintenance – one based on numbers of properties affected by flooding.

“[This will] ensure high risk drainage assets are kept as clear as possible to help reduce flood risk,” it said. “The council and flood risk team remain committed to prioritising our work where it is needed most.”

The council also stressed that supporting residents, delivering works and “aligning” funding sources continues to be a major priority.

“As a council, we need to work closely with partners, stakeholders, elected members and communities to identify opportunities, attract funding and deliver adaptation measures to become more resilient for future,” it said.

‘Homes have been inundated by filthy water’

Back in September, this summer’s flooding – as well the devastating fires which ravaged parts of the region – sparked questions over what political leaders in the Second City can do to tackle such weather events.

Councillors in the Birmingham Green Party – part of a minority coalition now running the council – argued more needed to be done at a meeting.

“For years, we only saw the effects of climate change in the polar bears dying because of sea ice melting or dry, desert-like land on the other side of the world engulfed in flames after drought,” Cllr Joseph Peacock (Green, Billesley) said.

“But this year Birmingham has been on fire, literally.

“Homes that families have poured love and care into […] have gone up in smoke or been inundated by filthy water.”

“Our residents are worried, I have spoken to dozens of residents worried about the climate crisis,” Cllr Raheem Humphreys added. “The answer is not to say that we cannot do anything or pass the buck.

“The answer is to show them that as a council, we are listening to those concerns, preparing and acting.”

During a meeting, the two councillors put forward a motion which called on the council to take a number of actions.

This included asking the council leader and deputy leader to write to the government to ask for increased resources to make the city “more resilient to a changing climate”.

Green Party Cllr Rob Grant, the cabinet member for transport, acknowledged in another meeting that it has “become very clear now that we have to plan ahead”.

“We do have winter preparation,” he said. “We need to start thinking about summer and autumn preparation as well because we’re seeing the same patterns each year.

“[We need to think about about] how we can support the flood team in achieving that support for the vulnerable residents.”

Funding for authorities like Birmingham to meet the duties under the Flood and Water Management Act is provided as part of the local government settlement.

But BCC says this funding is not ring-fenced and the flood risk management team’s budget is dependent on financial pressures and other key services within the council.

The council also said in its recently-published report that it is pushing ahead with an updated strategy and will be applying for further funding from various sources.

It added that a new government policy, which sets out a “simplified” approach to applying for certain grant funding, will help assist with some of the funding

pressures.

By Alexander Brock | Local Democracy Reporting Service