Newark and Sherwood District Council, Canal River Trust, Environment Agency and Nottinghamshire County Council’s first inter-agency meeting considers long and short term flooding response

The first inter-agency flood meeting saw authorities consider what schemes the area could benefit from and current factors exacerbating flooding.

Newark and Sherwood District Council hosted the meeting in February, which invited the Canal and River Trust, the Environment Agency, and Nottinghamshire County Council to consider a joined up approach to tackle flooding.

The authorities discussed potential future flood mitigation and considered the current situation.

Paul Taylor, portfolio holder for public protection and community relations at Newark and Sherwood District Council, said: "On Friday, February 23, we held our first inter-agency Newark and Sherwood Flood Partnership meeting in response to the devastating flooding the district experienced due to Storm Babet and Storm Henk.

"Those in attendance included representatives from Newark and Sherwood District Council and those with statutory responsibilities in relation to flood management including Nottinghamshire County Council, and the Environmental Agency. The meeting was aimed at bringing together agencies responsible for flood alleviation across the district to see how we can mitigate the threat of flooding, which has unfortunately become increasingly prevalent in recent times.

"Discussions at the meeting focused on sharing our understanding surrounding the context of our unique situation in our district and the causes of the recent flooding, what schemes the area could benefit from, and how we can better engage with the community to ensure they are kept aware, and up to date on our response to flood mitigation and also during flood situations.

"Those in attendance took away short-and medium-term actions from the meeting, and these include, but are not limited to, understanding how we can better protect our communities in the future, reviewing the effectiveness of our communication before, during and after a flood, identifying which areas do not currently have, and could benefit from, a flood warden, exploring if there are any factors that are exacerbating flooding in our area and the future development of flood mitigation projects.

"I understand how devastating and traumatic experiencing flooding is, and some of our residents faced it twice within a couple of months. I want to reassure our residents across the district that Newark and Sherwood District Council is absolutely committed to continuing to ensure partners work together to spearhead change for the benefit of our affected communities. I will make sure that we are doing everything we can to ensure that what we experienced at the end of 2023 and the start of 2024 can be avoided as much as possible in the future. The group is meeting again in April to discuss progress and continue the conversation. "