• Question: What is the difference between:
•   a watercourse
•   a surface water sewer
•   a highway drain and
•   a private sewer?
•  
• Answer: They are all the responsibility of different parties.

• Question: What do all the following have in common?
•   a watercourse
•   a surface water sewer
•   a highway drain and
•   a private sewer
•  
• Answer: They all flood in extreme weather conditions!

The comprehensive review of the lessons to be learned from the 2007 Summer Floods by Sir Michael Pitt has been published. Pitt recommends that each local authority (mainly district councils) should implement a register of Flood Risk with information of ownership and condition. With this, the local authority would be able to develop a strategy for the management of flood risk through Local Surface Water Management Plans.

However, the last twenty or thirty years have seen the technical departments of local authorities significantly diminished and in some places closed or merged. Local authorities need the capability and powers to commission expert advice and to ensure that local communities are properly protected.

The tension in the system between demand for housing and risk of flooding is not always properly addressed. Around a quarter of the homes flooded during the summer were built during the last twenty five years in areas of flood risk.

The Stilwell Partnership Drainage & Flooding Team includes experienced ex-local authority drainage engineers. We are ready to provide planning, engineering design and contract administration services for your land drainage and flood alleviation schemes.

We can also help develop your strategy to implement the recommendations of the Pitt report. We would assist in the preparation of a register of all the flood risk management and drainage assets.

Follow this link for the Pitt report executive summary of findings and recommendations