Memorandum submitted by Mr M Baker (FL
41)
1. On 25th June 2007 my property was seriously
threatened with flooding when a beck overflowed flooding the road.
The Authorities/organisations involved with controlling
the beck are:
1. York Council who approved developments
which drain into the beck.
2. Foss Internal Drainage Board (FIDB) who
manage and maintain the beck
3. Yorkshire Water who maintain the pumps
and pumping Station.
2. Queries made to York Council, FIDB and
Yorkshire Water regarding whether the beck could cope with the
run off water in heavy rain resulted in the following:
York Council has approved, over the years, a
grand total of hundreds of house extensions, conservatories and
single house developments in the catchement area of Westfield
Beck.
They do not know the the safe capacity of the
beck or the volume of "run off" water entering the beck.
They advised the following "Along with the board we have
long been concerned by the cumulative effect of these developments
(and the paving over of gardens which is completely unregulated)
but there is little that can be done by either authority."
Yorkshire Water would not answer queries about
the pumping capacity on account of their security policy.
3. Issues for investigation:
(A) In order to comply with government policy
(Planning Regulations) councils are approving developments that
will place other houses at high risk of flooding. Councils when
approving planning applications should be required to give prevention
of flooding to other properties priority over Planning and Building
Regulations.
(C) Stop unregulated paving over of gardens.
(D) Only one Authority to be responsible
for all drainage and that Authority to be subject to the Freedom
of Information Act.
(E) Authorities responsible for keeping watercourses
clear should be required to comply with standards that should
be made public and can easily be understood by the public.
(F) More attention to be given to the effect
of cumulative minor developments on increasing flood risk. eg
Run Off water from 40 house extensions can be more than a major
development of 10 houses.
M Baker
August 2007
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