Banter 99: Rural Flood Resilience Partnership (RFRO) 10Dec25 with Paul Dixon from ACRE

The meeting focused on rural flood resilience initiatives, with presentations from Paul and Lucy about their organizations' work with parish councils and community flood warden schemes.

The discussion explored challenges around new housing developments in flood-prone areas and the need for better coordination between Local Resilience Forums and parish councils. The group addressed climate change impacts, the importance of accurate flood mapping, and strategies for improving community resilience through research, training, and emergency planning efforts.

https://youtu.be/QnddIXq284gyoutu.be

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Presentation:

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ACRERFRP Great Collaboration 101225.pdf

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The presentations are provided in both .pdf and .pptx format, and you are welcome to download and use them. A marked down copy is at the bottom of this page to help with AI indexing

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Meeting Summary:

Dec 10, 2025 11:55 AM London ID: 834 5460 8536

Quick recap

The meeting focused on rural flood resilience initiatives, with presentations from Paul and Lucy about their organizations' work with parish councils and community flood warden schemes. The discussion explored challenges around new housing developments in flood-prone areas and the need for better coordination between Local Resilience Forums and parish councils. The group addressed climate change impacts, the importance of accurate flood mapping, and strategies for improving community resilience through research, training, and emergency planning efforts.

Next steps

• Paul: Send link to the Rural Flood Resilience Partnership work plan in the chat

• Paul: Share British Red Cross report on flooding with participants

• Paul: Meet with NALC to discuss next steps for survey research and response delivery

• Paul: Meet with other Rural Flood Resilience Partnership partners about the work plan

• Paul: Follow up with participants when more news is available about planned support for parish councils

• Alison: Contact Forest of Dean District Council to ask about flood coordination and involvement opportunities

• Andrew Maliphant: Get in touch with Lucy about coordination matters

• Great Collaboration: Produce new emergency planning template that includes floods, heat waves, and wildfires

Summary

Rural Flood Resilience Partnership

Paul introduced himself and his presentation about Acre, a national charity that speaks up for rural communities. He explained Acre's role, its strategy for 2030, and its work with parish councils on flood resilience. The discussion briefly touched on local flooding issues in Somerset and Weymouth, attributed to climate change and dry clay soil. Paul mentioned that Acre is involved in Action 12 and Action 20 of the Rural Flood Resilience Partnership's work plan, which includes a recent survey with parish councils about their flooding experiences and needs.

Rural Flood Resilience Partnership Update

Paul discussed the Rural Flood Resilience Partnership's work plan, which includes 21 actions focused on driving evidence, engaging communities, and providing support to communities. He highlighted ACRE's role in the partnership, including convening quarterly meetings and working with NALC to improve flood resilience at the parish level. Paul presented results from a survey sent to parish councils, which received 5,654 responses, revealing challenges around infrastructure, maintenance, and coordination, as well as a need for more funding, training, and access to data and mapping tools.

Community Resilience and Flood Planning

Lucy, the Community Resilience Officer at GRCC, explained their work in Gloucestershire, focusing on flood warden schemes, community emergency planning, and supporting community buildings. She highlighted their efforts in coordinating flood wardens, developing emergency plans, and fostering resilience through networking and community events. Graham thanked Lucy and Paul for their presentation and asked a question, but the transcript ends before the question is answered.

Flood-Prone Housing Development Concerns

The meeting focused on addressing flooding issues related to new housing developments in flood-prone areas. Graham raised concerns about a developer constructing 130 homes in a flood-prone field in the Isle of Wight, despite local objections. The group discussed the challenges of challenging developers due to inaccurate Environment Agency flood maps and government pressure to build more houses. They explored potential solutions, including raising issues with the Environment Agency, local authorities, and using community resilience measures. The conversation also touched on the need for better emergency planning and coordination between local authorities and community groups.

LRF-Parish Council Coordination Improvements

The meeting focused on improving coordination between Local Resilience Forums (LRFs) and parish councils, with Andrew Maliphant emphasizing the need for better joined-up efforts at the regional strategic level. Paul discussed the work of the Resilience Partnership, including research on land management practices and their impact on flooding, with plans for future case studies and online sessions. The group also addressed climate change concerns and the importance of positive messaging to engage individuals and communities in flood resilience efforts.

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Chat:

00:39:06 Andrew Clegg, Martock: The planning problem we have is that the EA maps are WRONG. How do get appropriate conditions when the EA have not asked for them

00:40:55 Alison Bruce Forest of Dean DC/WDPC: The difficulty now, I fear, is that the government will override anything decided locally even if supported by existing regulations or guidance as they are determined to have thousands more houses built

00:42:26 Andy Roberts Bourton-on-the-Water: Thanks for the presentation. Unfortunately, something has come up and I have to go.

00:44:06 Alison Bruce Forest of Dean DC/WDPC: In Lydney, the sewage system is already not able to cope but this is entirely ignored when planning permission is sought as the powers that be insist it is their duty to provide sewage services.....

00:45:40 Penny Q - Weymouth: I want to ask about something different - community action / communication and some of the points in relation to resilience building

00:47:01 Alison Bruce Forest of Dean DC/WDPC: Reacted to " I want to ask about..." with 👍 00:49:13 Alison Bruce Forest of Dean DC/WDPC: Can Penny raise her issue please

00:51:01 Andrew Clegg, Martock: The moon is a major problem for us. Yesterday was a high spring tide in the Bristol Channel. Today we are flooded

00:55:21 Paul Dixon (ACRE): Local resilience forums: contact details - GOV.UK

00:55:36 Alison Bruce Forest of Dean DC/WDPC: Lucy, can you tell me who the FoD flood wardens are? We had no volunteers in our parish council...

00:56:12 Paul Dixon (ACRE): National Flood Forum – A charity to help, support and represent people at risk of flooding.

00:57:21 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: @Alison Bruce Forest of Dean DC/WDPC my email is [email protected], I would be happy to get in touch outside of this meeting 00:58:01 Alison Bruce Forest of Dean DC/WDPC: [email protected] thanks

01:00:37 Graham Stoddart-Stones: Our banter session last week mentioned the enormous impact that beavers are having where they have been introduced, by increasing the local wetlands and helping to manage the water better 01:00:52 Penny Q - Weymouth: Reacted to "Our banter session l..." with 💚 01:01:45 Alison Bruce Forest of Dean DC/WDPC: Yes, we do have some here

01:01:53 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: In Gloucestershire we also try and raise awareness of Natural Flood Management strategies and funding available through our flood warden schemes and other flood action groups 01:02:20 Alison Bruce Forest of Dean DC/WDPC: FE do try to do some of this locally

01:02:32 Graham Stoddart-Stones: Yes, the presentation was by Katie Clubb in the FoD area… 01:02:50 Alison Bruce Forest of Dean DC/WDPC: Reacted to "Yes, the presentatio..." with 👍

01:03:43 Alison Bruce Forest of Dean DC/WDPC: Sorry, who are ADA? 01:04:22 Paul Dixon (ACRE): Homepage - Association of Drainage Authorities

01:04:32 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: I have another meeting now but it has been great to meet everyone and hear the presentation. Please get in touch with me at [email protected] if you would like to discuss anything further. Thanks 01:07:00 Alison Bruce Forest of Dean DC/WDPC: We need the pub as well!! 01:07:23 Alison Bruce Forest of Dean DC/WDPC: Mummers what date?

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Audio-transcript (for AI search and indexing):

WEBVTT

1 00:05:18.440 --> 00:05:24.690 Paul Dixon (ACRE): Afternoon, everyone. I'm going to be doing a presentation, but this is the first,

2 00:05:24.770 --> 00:05:38.249 Paul Dixon (ACRE): meeting, banter session I've joined, so I'm not sure whether someone else is going to be doing an introduction, or how many, people we would be expecting to join the session, so,

3 00:05:38.270 --> 00:05:45.499 Paul Dixon (ACRE): Perhaps we hang on a minute or two, but if anyone else has joined before, let me know.

4 00:05:46.100 --> 00:05:49.259 Paul Dixon (ACRE): whether I should just launch into my presentation.

5 00:05:49.260 --> 00:06:02.569 Penny Q - Weymouth: Morning, Paul. I don't know, I'm Penny Quilt from you, I'm in Weymouth. Graham Stoddarts Jones is normally here, facilitating, unless someone knows he's not going to be here, and there's… I think we can wait. Making that on.

6 00:06:02.910 --> 00:06:03.270 Andrew Clegg, Martock: maybe…

7 00:06:03.270 --> 00:06:04.509 Penny Q - Weymouth: I thought money was gone.

8 00:06:04.510 --> 00:06:05.690 Andrew Clegg, Martock: pushed away.

9 00:06:08.010 --> 00:06:14.110 Penny Q - Weymouth: Yeah, and we… I don't know, I think we're normally sort of a dozen or so, depends on the subject.

10 00:06:14.110 --> 00:06:14.550 Paul Dixon (ACRE): Hmm.

11 00:06:14.550 --> 00:06:19.460 Andrew Clegg, Martock: I've just rushed back from putting flood notices out all over the parish.

12 00:06:19.830 --> 00:06:21.069 Paul Dixon (ACRE): And where are you, Andre?

13 00:06:21.140 --> 00:06:39.130 Andrew Clegg, Martock: It's in Martok in Somerset. I'll actually add that. Actually, Graham asks us always to add our places of work to our, to our names. If we go to the top right of each one, you find Rename down at the bottom.

14 00:06:39.440 --> 00:06:46.330 Andrew Clegg, Martock: And then we can rename, I'm doing it at the moment, adding Martok to my name.

15 00:06:47.210 --> 00:06:49.190 Paul Dixon (ACRE): Your three dots, and then…

16 00:06:50.520 --> 00:06:51.899 Andrew Clegg, Martock: There we go

17 00:06:53.930 --> 00:07:03.380 Andrew Clegg, Martock: No, I've just got… I've got a Land Rover, so I'm the… I'm the one that can get through the floods to the other side to put the… put the signs out quickly.

18 00:07:03.710 --> 00:07:07.650 Andrew Clegg, Martock: And we've got a big problem at the moment. I don't know what's happened with the parrot.

19 00:07:07.770 --> 00:07:12.810 Andrew Clegg, Martock: It's flooding far earlier than normal.

20 00:07:14.770 --> 00:07:17.549 Penny Q - Weymouth: We've got… we've got high water levels in Weymouth as well.

21 00:07:18.280 --> 00:07:19.819 Andrew Clegg, Martock: Interesting, yeah.

22 00:07:20.520 --> 00:07:23.870 Penny Q - Weymouth: There's been a lot of rain. There's a lot of rain coming off the land.

23 00:07:23.870 --> 00:07:24.520 Andrew Clegg, Martock: Yeah.

24 00:07:24.670 --> 00:07:26.100 Penny Q - Weymouth: Even if we haven't had it.

25 00:07:26.420 --> 00:07:34.550 Andrew Clegg, Martock: The strange thing is that the water is not coming off the land into the parent, because the tributaries are quite low.

26 00:07:35.190 --> 00:07:50.169 Andrew Clegg, Martock: But what happens is that the Environment Agency controls it for 40, 40 kilometers across the Somerset levels, and I think they're changing their policy for controlling it, so that they flood much more upstream.

27 00:07:50.460 --> 00:07:52.889 Andrew Clegg, Martock: These days than they used to.

28 00:07:53.990 --> 00:07:54.800 Paul Dixon (ACRE): Hmm.

29 00:07:57.570 --> 00:07:58.900 Alison Bruce Forest of Dean DC/WDPC: It's obviously…

30 00:07:59.100 --> 00:08:11.750 Alison Bruce Forest of Dean DC/WDPC: Climate change, and it's going to come in many different forms, and it's coming very fast, and that's why this is such an important meeting, because flipping heck, people are not aware, and we need to be dealing with it.

31 00:08:12.170 --> 00:08:13.040 Andrew Clegg, Martock: Yeah.

32 00:08:14.200 --> 00:08:21.750 Andrew Clegg, Martock: I'm wondering whether one of the problems this year is that we're on Somerset Clay, and that really dried out last summer.

33 00:08:21.820 --> 00:08:38.840 Andrew Clegg, Martock: terrifyingly dried out. And clay, when it's dry, does not absorb water very quickly. It sort of needs to get started before it starts mopping it all up, and I wonder whether that's what we've got at the moment. Because we've got very early floods, we don't usually have them as early as this.

34 00:08:42.289 --> 00:08:44.989 Paul Dixon (ACRE): Yeah, so, so…

35 00:08:44.990 --> 00:08:46.919 Andrew Clegg, Martock: Maybe just go ahead.

36 00:08:46.920 --> 00:08:53.449 Paul Dixon (ACRE): Yeah, I just wonder if the groundwater is, you know, is full, or is it just that it's more surface water, then?

37 00:08:53.450 --> 00:09:04.749 Andrew Clegg, Martock: Well, we don't have any aquifers. We've just got this huge pile of clay that we're built on top of, and that is very dry, about 2 or 3 feet down now.

38 00:09:05.130 --> 00:09:12.930 Andrew Clegg, Martock: It's wet for the first foot or so when I dig, but when you… you know, when I plant trees, we have to water them.

39 00:09:15.020 --> 00:09:15.620 Paul Dixon (ACRE): Hmm.

40 00:09:16.670 --> 00:09:27.800 Paul Dixon (ACRE): Okay, I think what I'll do is I'll… I'll go through my presentation, and then we can sort of open it up to… to have a bit of a discussion. Yeah. If I'll share my…

41 00:09:27.800 --> 00:09:33.490 Alison Bruce Forest of Dean DC/WDPC: Could I just ask, I'm assuming that if Graham was here, he would be recording this?

42 00:09:34.230 --> 00:09:38.530 Alison Bruce Forest of Dean DC/WDPC: It is, oh, someone's recording already, it's fine. It is… oh, oh, that's fine then, that's fine.

43 00:09:38.530 --> 00:09:39.399 Paul Dixon (ACRE): I'm not taking it out.

44 00:09:39.400 --> 00:09:41.520 Andrew Clegg, Martock: This is based on the shop, isn't it? Yeah.

45 00:09:41.520 --> 00:09:42.420 Paul Dixon (ACRE): Yeah, yeah.

46 00:09:43.620 --> 00:09:44.320 Andrew Clegg, Martock: Yeah.

47 00:09:44.320 --> 00:09:46.770 Paul Dixon (ACRE): Okay, so I will share.

48 00:09:51.870 --> 00:09:54.510 Paul Dixon (ACRE): So can everyone see that presentation?

49 00:09:58.230 --> 00:09:59.630 Andrew Clegg, Martock: I can, yeah.

50 00:10:00.180 --> 00:10:00.620 Paul Dixon (ACRE): Right.

51 00:10:00.620 --> 00:10:01.810 Alison Bruce Forest of Dean DC/WDPC: Yeah, absolutely.

52 00:10:01.810 --> 00:10:02.690 Paul Dixon (ACRE): So.

53 00:10:02.690 --> 00:10:26.210 Paul Dixon (ACRE): what I wanted to do was just talk through, for those of you that are maybe not familiar with ACR, just a bit about our organization, our strategy, and our ambitions, an introduction to the Rural Flood Resilience Partnership and its work plan, Acre's role within that, and then the work that we're leading on around

54 00:10:26.370 --> 00:10:40.890 Paul Dixon (ACRE): Action 12 and Action 20, and Action 20 is, the survey recently we carried out with parish councils around, their, sort of, experiences of flooding and what their needs are.

55 00:10:41.670 --> 00:11:00.930 Paul Dixon (ACRE): So, moving on, I don't know if any of you are aware of Acre, or you've come across us. So, we're a national charity, and we are really speaking up for, rural communities. We champion thriving, sustainable, inclusive, rural communities.

56 00:11:00.930 --> 00:11:03.869 Paul Dixon (ACRE): We have 38 county-based members.

57 00:11:03.870 --> 00:11:14.480 Paul Dixon (ACRE): And there's more information about all of those on our website, and links through to each of, the members. So, obviously, in Forester Dean, it's…

58 00:11:14.480 --> 00:11:39.430 Paul Dixon (ACRE): GRCC, Gloucestershire Rural Community Council, Weymouth, you're… you're probably in the Dorset area, so there's information on our website there, and we obviously draw on the expertise of our members and link through locally to nationally and, engage with, relevant stakeholders, including DEFRA, Environment Agency.

59 00:11:39.430 --> 00:11:41.390 Paul Dixon (ACRE): And other government departments.

60 00:11:42.850 --> 00:11:52.380 Paul Dixon (ACRE): We've recently refreshed our strategy for up to 2030, and we've sort of identified,

61 00:11:52.530 --> 00:12:06.090 Paul Dixon (ACRE): the need around thriving rural communities, improving the quality of life of residents, and supporting those people most in need. And we recognize that,

62 00:12:06.720 --> 00:12:10.690 Paul Dixon (ACRE): Rural areas and residents, can be,

63 00:12:11.340 --> 00:12:19.240 Paul Dixon (ACRE): not really understood by policymakers, and ignored in policy development. And, you know, I think it's around

64 00:12:19.240 --> 00:12:32.219 Paul Dixon (ACRE): 20% of the population is, is rural, so, we're there, we're speaking up, although, and we work with other organizations, like the Rural Coalition and other, other, rural organisations to, to,

65 00:12:32.220 --> 00:12:43.030 Paul Dixon (ACRE): Raise the voice of rural. And we do that by campaigning, enabling local action, and unlocking support for people most in need.

66 00:12:45.090 --> 00:13:04.150 Paul Dixon (ACRE): this is a bit more about our strategy, just about what… what… what we want to achieve in the next, 5 years up to 2030, about, you know, helping to improve the quality of life of communities and supporting people in need, and as I said, around campaigning.

67 00:13:04.210 --> 00:13:13.580 Paul Dixon (ACRE): Enabling and unlocking support. And that means working with our members at a county level there, and supporting communities.

68 00:13:15.510 --> 00:13:20.100 Paul Dixon (ACRE): So, the Royal Float Resilience Partnership,

69 00:13:20.780 --> 00:13:31.529 Paul Dixon (ACRE): the partnership of the Royal Flood Resilience Partnership has been in existence a couple of years now, and came out of the work that,

70 00:13:31.530 --> 00:13:48.530 Paul Dixon (ACRE): the NFU were doing with the Environment Agency, and it sort of links in with the higher level flood and coastal erosion risk management strategy, and the, the…

71 00:13:48.590 --> 00:14:07.570 Paul Dixon (ACRE): governmental task groups around that, but I think the partners working with NFU initially, and then, the ADA, Association of Drainage Authorities, CLA, Environment Agency, Natural England, and DACA came together to

72 00:14:07.810 --> 00:14:23.739 Paul Dixon (ACRE): To have a specific rural voice that, you know, and start to look at the specific needs of rural communities that… that we could then feed up into higher… the higher level discussions there.

73 00:14:24.190 --> 00:14:36.419 Paul Dixon (ACRE): And most of the other members of the, Rural Flood Resilience are on the National, Flood Partnership as well, the government task force.

74 00:14:36.830 --> 00:14:41.989 Paul Dixon (ACRE): So there's a connection through to the National Task Force, to the Rural Partnership.

75 00:14:43.760 --> 00:14:50.920 Paul Dixon (ACRE): So, we have, A work plan, and there are…

76 00:14:50.920 --> 00:15:14.029 Paul Dixon (ACRE): 21 actions within the work plan that, I can send you… send a link out, or share a link to the work plan in… in the chat, that links through all the different areas, but there's, three specific areas around driving evidence, and… and that is around research, looking at evidence of best practice.

77 00:15:14.030 --> 00:15:33.610 Paul Dixon (ACRE): Engaging communities in flood resilience, and then looking at how we can provide, quality, support to communities through the work that ACA, NFU, ADA are doing, and other those

78 00:15:38.330 --> 00:15:39.510 Paul Dixon (ACRE): So…

79 00:15:39.530 --> 00:15:49.790 Paul Dixon (ACRE): I suppose, just talking about what… what we do as ACA, we, as a member of the, Flood Partnership, we bring

80 00:15:49.790 --> 00:16:00.850 Paul Dixon (ACRE): Access to our national network of members, experience of expert advice, and experience of communities as a whole.

81 00:16:00.850 --> 00:16:07.140 Paul Dixon (ACRE): Connecting intelligence with policymakers and, delivery nationally and locally.

82 00:16:07.670 --> 00:16:16.149 Paul Dixon (ACRE): Being able to convene, capability and bring, diverse interests together, both nationally and locally.

83 00:16:16.440 --> 00:16:26.570 Paul Dixon (ACRE): And I think one of the other areas we very much work on is, specialists in village halls and community buildings as well.

84 00:16:26.790 --> 00:16:50.939 Paul Dixon (ACRE): And our members deliver a lot of support to a local level. They're… they're supporting communities, they're supporting village halls. A number of them are supporting, communities on community resilience plans, emergency plans, and obviously village halls feature in… in community resilience plans and, you know, places of refuge when… when this funding,

85 00:16:50.940 --> 00:16:52.380 Paul Dixon (ACRE): floating as well.

86 00:16:54.990 --> 00:17:04.950 Paul Dixon (ACRE): And specifically, our role around the flood partnership is, two actions. Action 12, which was developing a community of practice.

87 00:17:05.040 --> 00:17:10.040 Paul Dixon (ACRE): And that is for our members within ACA.

88 00:17:10.040 --> 00:17:25.530 Paul Dixon (ACRE): sort of development workers within the ECA Network to, share best practice, and, convene quarterly meetings and, and bring other agencies together to, to, so, so we can

89 00:17:25.530 --> 00:17:32.849 Paul Dixon (ACRE): Sort of learn from each other and promote best practice around flooding, and community resilience.

90 00:17:33.460 --> 00:17:52.200 Paul Dixon (ACRE): And then Action 20, which I'm going to talk about more in due course, is working with, now, the National Association of Local Councils to help parish councils to improve flood resilience, using various tools, including planning processes.

91 00:17:53.020 --> 00:18:10.740 Paul Dixon (ACRE): Initially, we were looking at neighbourhood planning, but, I think we've broadened that out into more, wider community resilience and planning, aspects, because, there were changes around the neighborhood planning, support nationally, and I think,

92 00:18:11.020 --> 00:18:21.199 Paul Dixon (ACRE): Devolution is obviously having an impact on the relationships at a parish level as well, that we still need to see how they are playing out.

93 00:18:21.200 --> 00:18:37.589 Paul Dixon (ACRE): We're also involved in some other areas. Action 1 is around building an evidence base, and there's some academic research going on at the moment to collate all of the evidence around that.

94 00:18:37.840 --> 00:18:49.260 Paul Dixon (ACRE): Action 8 is around, policy responses and responding to the policy consultation. So, there's a policy group that involves NFU, CLA,

95 00:18:49.310 --> 00:19:00.150 Paul Dixon (ACRE): And Acre there. And I would say NFU and CLA are obviously… and ADA as well, they're the… more the experts on… on the,

96 00:19:00.210 --> 00:19:02.739 Paul Dixon (ACRE): flooding side.

97 00:19:02.810 --> 00:19:21.570 Paul Dixon (ACRE): And then Action 13, which is around looking at the relationships with local resilience forums, and we're trying to look at… see how we can get a more consistent relationship with local resilience forums at a county level. And I think that's something that

98 00:19:21.570 --> 00:19:31.810 Paul Dixon (ACRE): has come up with our discussion with parishes as well, is their relationship and connections with local resilience forums as well.

99 00:19:33.590 --> 00:19:42.480 Paul Dixon (ACRE): So, Action 12, you know, we've, as I said, we, you know, we've, with,

100 00:19:42.480 --> 00:20:07.179 Paul Dixon (ACRE): regularly have 50 quarterly meetings. 15 to 20 of our members are attending. We've had various organizations join… joining, the ADA, Environment Agency, talking about local resilience forums. We actually had a presentation, our most recent one, from the Great Collaboration, and that's how this connection came up at our

101 00:20:07.320 --> 00:20:26.780 Paul Dixon (ACRE): meeting in October, and we also link in to a partnership called the Voluntary and Community Sector Emergencies Partnership, which, are a sort of a network of a few hundred voluntary sector organisations that

102 00:20:26.780 --> 00:20:33.919 Paul Dixon (ACRE): work on community resilience, which has a relationship to… to flooding as well.

103 00:20:33.950 --> 00:20:47.549 Paul Dixon (ACRE): And they had a… we had an interesting presentation from the British Red Cross, who, done some research and produced a report on… on flooding, as well, so I can obviously share that with you as well.

104 00:20:52.070 --> 00:20:58.579 Paul Dixon (ACRE): some of the recommendations from our members, we did… we did… we carried out a survey about a year ago,

105 00:20:58.830 --> 00:21:04.260 Paul Dixon (ACRE): And… Our members were keen to see, you know, the following points, that,

106 00:21:04.780 --> 00:21:18.880 Paul Dixon (ACRE): that there was no overlap of effort, and we're keen to see that duplication doesn't happen where possible. There's a lot of different organizations involved in this work and competing.

107 00:21:18.880 --> 00:21:28.490 Paul Dixon (ACRE): demands as well. So, you know, clarifying different roles of agencies, and who's… who's responsible.

108 00:21:29.470 --> 00:21:36.840 Paul Dixon (ACRE): Addressing duplication and improving coordination around local authorities and flood management bodies there.

109 00:21:37.720 --> 00:21:41.990 Paul Dixon (ACRE): Or maybe could come back and have a bit more of a discussion on that when I move on.

110 00:21:44.620 --> 00:21:57.560 Paul Dixon (ACRE): Our members highlighted some of the challenges we need to factor in when, when, looking at these things. Infrastructure and maintenance, poor maintenance of drains, culverts, gullies.

111 00:21:57.790 --> 00:22:05.299 Paul Dixon (ACRE): Issues around surface water and flash flooding, Planning and development pressures,

112 00:22:05.480 --> 00:22:11.089 Paul Dixon (ACRE): You know, concerns over new developments, and flood risk assessments,

113 00:22:11.310 --> 00:22:16.170 Paul Dixon (ACRE): Putting the buildings in the right place and making sure that it's appropriate development.

114 00:22:16.410 --> 00:22:32.369 Paul Dixon (ACRE): coordination, who's responsible of a multi-agency cooperation, and being able to respond at the right time. Funding is always a challenge, especially for small parish councils as well.

115 00:22:32.590 --> 00:22:45.700 Paul Dixon (ACRE): and low public awareness, around floods and responsibilities, and I think that came up the… as well for us, some feedback that when people get flooded, they… they sometimes…

116 00:22:45.950 --> 00:23:03.640 Paul Dixon (ACRE): in denial. They don't want to, always accept that, they've been flooded, or the consequences of it, and sort of issues around insurance costs as well, and being prepared, making sure that they're prepared for flooding, or not being prepared.

117 00:23:05.680 --> 00:23:16.049 Paul Dixon (ACRE): So Action 20, which is the key area I wanted to discuss, was, was what we were looking to do was…

118 00:23:16.050 --> 00:23:31.140 Paul Dixon (ACRE): ensure that future flood resilience is rootedly considered by rural communities and those working with them, and working with NALC. So we've been talking to NALC around how we can do this. We,

119 00:23:32.340 --> 00:23:41.439 Paul Dixon (ACRE): Worked on, putting a survey together, and looking at the wider policy impacts around flooding.

120 00:23:42.400 --> 00:23:52.920 Paul Dixon (ACRE): So, coming on to the, survey, we… Launched a survey, at,

121 00:23:53.450 --> 00:24:00.099 Paul Dixon (ACRE): Actually, I think that comes on the next slide, but yeah, so the purpose of Zoe was just to… to,

122 00:24:00.160 --> 00:24:18.780 Paul Dixon (ACRE): look at getting some really good, useful evidence from, on how… what the experiences of parish councils were in… around flooding, and then what support, and what the issue… what support they would need, and what… looking at what we could provide,

123 00:24:19.420 --> 00:24:21.920 Paul Dixon (ACRE): To… to them afterwards.

124 00:24:22.680 --> 00:24:40.690 Paul Dixon (ACRE): So what we did, we launched the survey on the 2nd of July, for, nearly 8 weeks, actually. Distributed through the county associations, and they were asked to forward on to their parish councils in their county regular reminders,

125 00:24:41.120 --> 00:24:58.259 Paul Dixon (ACRE): And we did have some… we monitored regularly, and so there were some low responses, but total in… by the end was 6,654 responses, which is pretty good, we thought, compared to other… there were 66 duplicates,

126 00:24:58.320 --> 00:25:05.770 Paul Dixon (ACRE): some people, I think it could be the clerk or the… or someone else from the parish responding, and we…

127 00:25:06.620 --> 00:25:22.579 Paul Dixon (ACRE): we've… we had to exclude the detail of them, because there was some… some conflicting responses about the… the… their views on, the experiences. So, still 587 responses.

128 00:25:23.030 --> 00:25:26.429 Paul Dixon (ACRE): I'm gonna… I'm listing… these are the… the…

129 00:25:26.430 --> 00:25:47.399 Paul Dixon (ACRE): the top response. This is for the total number, but I think it was just quite interesting to list which counties were, we did get the most responses from there. You probably recognize some of them do have, experiences, you know, quite experiences of flooding quite regularly.

130 00:25:47.850 --> 00:25:59.460 Paul Dixon (ACRE): Some of it may just have been how proactive the people were at responding, and whether they had a meeting and decided, you know, were able to collate a response back.

131 00:25:59.980 --> 00:26:02.380 Paul Dixon (ACRE): And these were the lowest,

132 00:26:03.130 --> 00:26:18.709 Paul Dixon (ACRE): And it's interesting, it may just be that some of those counties didn't get the… the parish councils didn't get all of the information, but, there's no judgement on any of the individual parishes if we had… if we got a low response from those specific counties.

133 00:26:18.970 --> 00:26:21.100 Paul Dixon (ACRE): Because we're gonna… we're gonna…

134 00:26:21.400 --> 00:26:28.550 Paul Dixon (ACRE): share some results, once we've had further discussion with NARLC and the Environment Agency.

135 00:26:29.410 --> 00:26:38.430 Paul Dixon (ACRE): Not surprisingly, because the survey was about flooding, that,

136 00:26:38.780 --> 00:26:52.330 Paul Dixon (ACRE): the majority, you know, 74% of the people said that their area had a history of flooding, because that's what the survey was about, so I'd expect people to proactively be engaged in the survey in that respect.

137 00:26:53.000 --> 00:27:00.560 Paul Dixon (ACRE): And we, we wanted to be, so, we're interested in,

138 00:27:00.770 --> 00:27:04.880 Paul Dixon (ACRE): Whether, the councils had,

139 00:27:06.070 --> 00:27:29.220 Paul Dixon (ACRE): identified flood, risk, in their plans or policies. So 42% said yes, and another, you know, 16% are in development, so well over half of, you know, nearly 60… well, 60% have got some working on plans that address flooding.

140 00:27:32.410 --> 00:27:43.220 Paul Dixon (ACRE): And we then looked at, asked around whether the developer, contributed to a local flood resilience or an emergency plan,

141 00:27:43.340 --> 00:27:45.140 Paul Dixon (ACRE): You can see,

142 00:27:45.690 --> 00:27:53.489 Paul Dixon (ACRE): 19% had a dedicated plan, 30% had one that links in with a broader plan.

143 00:27:53.630 --> 00:27:58.910 Paul Dixon (ACRE): And another 21% are planning to… to do something.

144 00:28:02.430 --> 00:28:11.910 Paul Dixon (ACRE): The Environment Agency produces some really useful flood risk maps and tools, and

145 00:28:12.300 --> 00:28:20.230 Paul Dixon (ACRE): They're all available and accessible online, and… above half.

146 00:28:20.340 --> 00:28:22.599 Paul Dixon (ACRE): Said they used them, but,

147 00:28:22.780 --> 00:28:42.150 Paul Dixon (ACRE): there was quite a few, you know, nearly 30% didn't use them, for some reason. We don't know why, and another 16% are not aware of them. I think that's possibly an interesting one that we do want to follow up on, and,

148 00:28:42.390 --> 00:28:57.279 Paul Dixon (ACRE): really, probably raise the profile and promote those, those tools and make sure that, all parishes are aware of them and using them appropriately, because there's a lot of useful, information there that… that can be used.

149 00:28:58.510 --> 00:29:04.820 Paul Dixon (ACRE): We asked… Around what were the…

150 00:29:05.010 --> 00:29:11.910 Paul Dixon (ACRE): biggest challenges that your council faces in planning for flood resilience.

151 00:29:11.970 --> 00:29:30.619 Paul Dixon (ACRE): And I think maybe this is something we could have a bit more of a discussion around, but the key ones that come up that should probably, I think, would resonate with you around, infrastructure and maintenance of watercourses, surface water flash flooding.

152 00:29:30.970 --> 00:29:34.410 Paul Dixon (ACRE): As I mentioned before, planning and development pressures.

153 00:29:35.000 --> 00:29:50.820 Paul Dixon (ACRE): coordination and responsibility, and especially at a parish level, who is responsible for coordination? How are those messages shared? How does it work in relation to parish council?

154 00:29:51.310 --> 00:30:00.239 Paul Dixon (ACRE): Funding and resources, having enough funding and resources to be able to do what you need to do at a parish level.

155 00:30:01.610 --> 00:30:20.240 Paul Dixon (ACRE): Community engagement, awareness raising, making sure the community, the individuals and, people living in your communities are engaged in, the work that, you're doing as parishes, but as your higher level authorities and, and the flood management,

156 00:30:20.240 --> 00:30:29.330 Paul Dixon (ACRE): those responsible for the foot management, the residents are engaged with that, and they're aware of, what's going on.

157 00:30:29.330 --> 00:30:33.989 Paul Dixon (ACRE): Having good access to data and risk assessments as well.

158 00:30:36.450 --> 00:30:51.719 Paul Dixon (ACRE): And then we also… I'm going to come to the end here, we asked what support, would help councils improve flood resilience, and this was every… we asked everyone there, so that's all 654, but…

159 00:30:52.250 --> 00:31:12.210 Paul Dixon (ACRE): that, you know, the top ones were more funding, grants available at a local level, training and workshops around, the area of food management resilience. Toolkits, case studies all came up, and access to data and mapping.

160 00:31:14.400 --> 00:31:22.599 Paul Dixon (ACRE): That's the end there. I will stop sharing, if I can,

161 00:31:23.740 --> 00:31:27.210 Paul Dixon (ACRE): Find my other screen, I've got two screens here, so I'm going to stop sharing.

162 00:31:27.720 --> 00:31:34.429 Paul Dixon (ACRE): I see there's something in… in the… the chat there. I think…

163 00:31:34.430 --> 00:31:50.020 Paul Dixon (ACRE): the next thing is probably, it's an open discussion. I didn't notice, Lucy… I'm gonna… Lucy Eccles, who, works for Gloucestershire Rural Community Council. Now, she's one of our… our members in… in… in Gloucestershire, and… and…

164 00:31:50.020 --> 00:31:55.689 Paul Dixon (ACRE): you… you work in… in this area of community resilience, don't you, Lucy? So,

165 00:31:55.940 --> 00:32:05.959 Paul Dixon (ACRE): Lucy might want to chip in. I was just going to have a look at the, oh, it's just Lucy saying that she, she lost the connection, and she came back in.

166 00:32:05.960 --> 00:32:10.619 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: I'm happy to give a little bit of a sort of snippet of my work as… as a…

167 00:32:10.800 --> 00:32:33.969 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: working with an ACA member organization. So as Paul said, I'm the Community Resilience Officer at GRCC, so that stands for Gloucestershire Rural Community Councils. I was glad to see that Gloucestershire was the top four on the survey responses, that's always nice to see. But, yeah, I think, so what we do in GRCC is we work on all of these

168 00:32:33.970 --> 00:32:38.709 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: actions that Paul's talked through at a hyper-local level,

169 00:32:38.710 --> 00:32:42.319 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: So when it comes to community resilience, we have…

170 00:32:42.710 --> 00:32:50.959 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: We help coordinate flood warden schemes across the county, so they're funded by local authorities, but run by us.

171 00:32:50.960 --> 00:33:14.769 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: So we kind of train, manage, recruit, organize meetings with external speakers for the flood wardens, and, you know, these can be, like, from the Environment Agency, other, like, voluntary sex organizations, loads of different, speakers, really to drive that community resilience, kind of in to the community, and then the idea is that flood wardens will then

172 00:33:14.770 --> 00:33:31.139 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: sort of distribute that information, knowledge, awareness to the wider community, so as many people really can start to benefit as much as possible. I know, like, you talked a little bit about community engagement, and I think that's a really good way of, sort of, channeling,

173 00:33:31.260 --> 00:33:40.139 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: that, kind of awareness and education, down to the community. So we, yeah, we work with a lot of, lot, a lot of…

174 00:33:40.350 --> 00:33:57.730 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: communities in Gloucestershire, through the flood warden scheme. We also, support with community emergency planning, so, I think the idea and prospect of creating a community emergency plan can be quite daunting for a lot of people, and we… I feel like as a society, we don't tend to

175 00:33:57.770 --> 00:34:05.349 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: always react, until, you know, there is actually a flood in place or another emergency. So we really try and…

176 00:34:05.470 --> 00:34:06.550 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: kind of…

177 00:34:07.010 --> 00:34:23.899 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: hone in that actually these plans are really beneficial and can ultimately save lives in the long term. So I work with a lot of parish and town councils on helping them to develop their community emergency plan, designate places of safety, recruit volunteers.

178 00:34:23.900 --> 00:34:35.940 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: might be interested, all of these kind of things. And a lot of my colleagues as well work with sort of broader community development, again, on the hyper-local level. So, Paul talks a little bit about

179 00:34:36.110 --> 00:34:44.430 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: kind of community buildings, and the role that community buildings can play, in community resilience, as well as their sort of wider benefits.

180 00:34:44.429 --> 00:34:59.500 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: And we, in Gloucestershire, we actually have a community buildings network where, kind of, people who run and manage community buildings can come together and discuss, kind of, different issues that they might be facing, receive relevant advice.

181 00:34:59.500 --> 00:35:11.549 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: So yeah, we find that these sort of networking and community events really do foster resilience in communities. So, yeah, that's kind of a bit of a quick whistle-stop tour of my work.

182 00:35:11.610 --> 00:35:17.260 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: linking into Paul's presentation, so yeah, I hope that's been… been useful.

183 00:35:20.570 --> 00:35:30.570 Graham Stoddart-Stones: Really useful. Thank you very much to both of you for a fascinating presentation. I actually apologize for not being around at the start. We had issues back home.

184 00:35:30.600 --> 00:35:42.290 Graham Stoddart-Stones: But I'm back now, and I have a question for you, Paul, because we're having a meeting tonight, in Bembridge, in the Isle of White, with a

185 00:35:42.680 --> 00:35:54.289 Graham Stoddart-Stones: developer who's going to be putting up 130 homes on a field which we all know locally floods, and we've been told that our

186 00:35:54.520 --> 00:36:12.360 Graham Stoddart-Stones: objections to having been… this building going on here have been overruled, presumably by people who have no idea what flooding means, and are just cheerfully going to go ahead. On the other side of the road from this development, there was permission given for a 56-house development.

187 00:36:12.460 --> 00:36:29.869 Graham Stoddart-Stones: And again, that field was also a major contribution to flooding, and the developer assured us that the plans that they'd made would take care of the flooding, and they dug a pond that was going to be the buffer between the floods and the water pouring away.

188 00:36:30.400 --> 00:36:47.489 Graham Stoddart-Stones: They managed to build 9 homes, and no one has bought any, so they haven't gone any further, but those 9 homes themselves, have already overfilled the buffer pond, so the flooding now, instead of going down the street, which it used to do before, now overflows directly into the next-door neighbor's house.

189 00:36:47.530 --> 00:37:05.110 Graham Stoddart-Stones: So, my question, really, and I'm sorry to go on like this, was, do you have any suggestions, Paul, as to how we can approach this developer tonight, when we're in the full knowledge that all he's going to do is going to increase the likelihood of flooding, and we're already a Flood 9 sort of area.

190 00:37:05.110 --> 00:37:09.469 Graham Stoddart-Stones: This place, and what can you undo? What…

191 00:37:09.710 --> 00:37:21.440 Graham Stoddart-Stones: powers are there? What demands can we make of the developer to make sure that the flooding that we're all forecasting is going to be, in some respect, mitigated?

192 00:37:22.530 --> 00:37:29.250 Andrew Clegg, Martock: Paul, can I chip in before you answer? Graham's just asked the question I was going to ask.

193 00:37:30.100 --> 00:37:43.450 Paul Dixon (ACRE): I think I'm probably commenting from my personal experience here, around my, sort of, experience in, sort of, local authority. So…

194 00:37:43.570 --> 00:38:07.440 Paul Dixon (ACRE): I suppose a question around the development is whether it has gained planning permission, or whether it is then going to the planning committee, and the planning committee are discussing it tonight, whether there's been an adequate flood risk assessment of part of the planning application, and whether, within

195 00:38:07.440 --> 00:38:18.539 Paul Dixon (ACRE): the… planning application, whether there are proper, appropriate flood mitigation measures within the application.

196 00:38:19.230 --> 00:38:38.069 Paul Dixon (ACRE): the committee can then, obviously, discuss that. They could, or should be putting conditions within the… from the planning committee on the developer to make sure that those conditions are adhered to.

197 00:38:38.560 --> 00:38:57.589 Paul Dixon (ACRE): I think the other options are possibly looking at the, the local plan to see what, whether there's any supplementary planning guidance or guidance within the local plan around, flooding that can be used,

198 00:38:57.740 --> 00:39:07.919 Paul Dixon (ACRE): as either as leverage or evidence that the developer needs to follow those… that planning guidance there.

199 00:39:09.620 --> 00:39:21.540 Paul Dixon (ACRE): I'm not… I'd probably open it to other… others that have got experience in… in that area. I know, Penny, you've… have you got your hand up? Penny, is there anything you wanted to say there?

200 00:39:22.200 --> 00:39:32.949 Penny Q - Weymouth: I haven't got direct experience of that, except I've been involved in the Waymouth Neighbourhood Plan for the last five years or so, that's just gone through a…

201 00:39:32.980 --> 00:39:49.989 Penny Q - Weymouth: who's about to go to referendum tomorrow, actually, and flooding was something that I raised continually, around this. Unfortunately, you know, the laws and the policies and the frameworks that we're working within are just not

202 00:39:50.400 --> 00:40:02.209 Penny Q - Weymouth: you know, they're not adequate at the moment. They're behind, and, you know, we can't… we couldn't… we couldn't put policies in place that we wanted to put in because they aren't, you know, supported by the NPPF at the moment.

203 00:40:02.450 --> 00:40:19.500 Penny Q - Weymouth: So, I don't know, I mean, we… I mean, I spent some time with Wessex Water, I mean, and talking to them, because obviously, you know, flooding and water management falls into the remit of whoever is on the Isle of Wight, I'm not sure, but…

204 00:40:19.780 --> 00:40:36.670 Penny Q - Weymouth: I am aware that some water companies have refused to support developments because, you know, their infrastructure is already overwhelmed, which is partly why we've got all these sort of pollution problems in our waterways.

205 00:40:36.800 --> 00:40:37.910 Penny Q - Weymouth: So…

206 00:40:38.190 --> 00:40:47.789 Penny Q - Weymouth: I know a lot of that is farming, but, you know, new developments also are contributing to that. So I don't know if I can add anything to, sort of, Graham's thing, apart from I just, you know.

207 00:40:48.470 --> 00:40:52.200 Penny Q - Weymouth: I feel very quite despondent about it all, to be quite honest with you.

208 00:40:52.200 --> 00:40:52.739 Graham Stoddart-Stones: We're not gonna…

209 00:40:52.740 --> 00:41:17.669 Graham Stoddart-Stones: answer some of Paul's questions. So, we'll be in a unique situation which none of the rest of you will ever have encountered, I'm sure, but the local planning parish council refused to support the planning application because they knew it would lead to flooding. They were overridden by the Isle of Wight Council, which said they had no option but to grant the application because the government was demanding so many houses

210 00:41:17.670 --> 00:41:27.939 Graham Stoddart-Stones: get billed within the next few years, and they had to put them somewhere. So even though they're building them in a place that you know is going to be flooding, I sort of wonder how that

211 00:41:27.950 --> 00:41:33.210 Graham Stoddart-Stones: ties in with Paul's discovery that, you know, people who have

212 00:41:33.210 --> 00:41:49.149 Graham Stoddart-Stones: historically built on floodplains, and then are astonished when their houses disappear underwater. I mean, how on earth could this happen to us? And why don't we… why will no one insure our house? Because we built it, it's there, it's there, and you… you're worried about it flooding. It is very weird.

213 00:41:49.150 --> 00:41:56.459 Graham Stoddart-Stones: There's also a slightly odd, and I suspect it must be unique to the Isle of Wight, that,

214 00:41:57.170 --> 00:42:09.770 Graham Stoddart-Stones: all the sewage in the Isle of Wight comes to one place. It fascinates me that places 25 miles away are still sending their sewage to us, but it all comes down to one place. It was built…

215 00:42:09.770 --> 00:42:21.730 Graham Stoddart-Stones: sort of a hundred years ago, when the Isle of Wight population was a quarter of what it is now, and certainly a tenth of what it is in the summer when the tourists arrive, and it's not able to cope

216 00:42:21.730 --> 00:42:30.620 Graham Stoddart-Stones: With the static load that it gets just from the people who are here in the wintertime, never mind the tourists that arrive in the summer.

217 00:42:30.620 --> 00:42:39.770 Graham Stoddart-Stones: So, every time it rains, without question, the floodgates are open and the sewage is dumped directly into the Isle of the Surland.

218 00:42:39.770 --> 00:43:04.700 Graham Stoddart-Stones: And of course, people like, Swimmers Against Sewage and so forth, they're all going on and on and on and on and on, but still no one will provide the money to do the system, because I don't know why. But I'm really just keen, as a parish council member, going to tonight's development meeting, where the developer is going to explain what he's going to be doing, and how he's going to be doing it, and what do you do when you know it's going to be inadequate?

219 00:43:08.640 --> 00:43:11.100 Paul Dixon (ACRE): Andrew has his hand up.

220 00:43:11.100 --> 00:43:18.499 Andrew Clegg, Martock: Well, Grim said, again, said everything I was going to say. I put a little note in the chat, actually.

221 00:43:18.500 --> 00:43:31.189 Andrew Clegg, Martock: The problem is the Environment Agency maps are wrong for Martok, and everybody knows this, but, developers always use the maps because they can.

222 00:43:31.220 --> 00:43:50.530 Andrew Clegg, Martock: And all we can do is buy up lots of hydra snakes, you all know about hydrosnakes, and store them for the eventuality that we know will happen when these new houses get flooded, which is happening, actually, as we speak at the moment.

223 00:43:50.650 --> 00:44:06.230 Andrew Clegg, Martock: Because, simply because the, the, the Environment Agency maps that are used for planning are wrong, the local authority has to follow the Environment Agency maps, and the, and the, the, the builders

224 00:44:06.310 --> 00:44:19.870 Andrew Clegg, Martock: take no notice of any other suggestions. And they also offer to the people who are… they're selling houses to, they offer the use of their own solicitors.

225 00:44:20.660 --> 00:44:34.019 Andrew Clegg, Martock: So that the… at a cheap rate, so that they can… the people who buy the houses never become aware of the fact that they're buying in a floodplain.

226 00:44:34.930 --> 00:44:36.679 Andrew Clegg, Martock: Until, of course, it floods.

227 00:44:37.460 --> 00:44:48.910 Andrew Clegg, Martock: And these days, houses tend to be timber-framed, so the damage that's done by a flooding is much more than it was when houses were built properly out of bricks.

228 00:44:50.920 --> 00:45:01.259 Paul Dixon (ACRE): Have you… how… how has the Environment Agency responded? Have you… you actually… has it been raised with them that their… their flood maps are not accurate, or…

229 00:45:01.260 --> 00:45:16.890 Andrew Clegg, Martock: We have a particular problem. We are at the sort of plug hole where the River Parrot goes down into the Somerset levels, and the Environment Agency control completely the drainage in the Somerset levels, which is a huge area.

230 00:45:16.890 --> 00:45:25.269 Andrew Clegg, Martock: And it obviously makes mistakes. Not deliberately, you know, and it… the policy tends to be to hold flood water back.

231 00:45:25.270 --> 00:45:37.510 Andrew Clegg, Martock: And as soon as you hold flood water back on the parrot, Martok gets inundated, you see, and this is what's happened this morning. I've never seen floods like we've got at the moment.

232 00:45:37.830 --> 00:45:52.210 Andrew Clegg, Martock: And so there's not much we can do, except sort of warn people that it's a wonderful place to live, but make sure that you've got something to block your front door up with in winters, and back door.

233 00:45:52.210 --> 00:46:06.009 Andrew Clegg, Martock: It's very simple, I mean, it's happened for 300 or 400 years. All the old houses in the village have places where they slide pieces of wood down to stop the water getting in, and the downstairs floors are all made out of stone.

234 00:46:06.450 --> 00:46:10.230 Andrew Clegg, Martock: So he gets in, and then dries out, and there's no problem.

235 00:46:14.170 --> 00:46:15.040 Paul Dixon (ACRE): Yeah.

236 00:46:15.690 --> 00:46:20.849 Paul Dixon (ACRE): Penny… Penny has another question or discussion point.

237 00:46:22.570 --> 00:46:26.449 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: Sorry, Paul, can I just chip in on that point, made by Andrew?

238 00:46:26.450 --> 00:46:27.960 Paul Dixon (ACRE): Oh, yes, okay.

239 00:46:27.960 --> 00:46:29.240 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: Yeah, and…

240 00:46:29.270 --> 00:46:44.199 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: No, I think, I mean, as Paul said before, I think definitely feeding back to the Environment Agency, I know you said that because of the, sort of, specific context, it'd be quite difficult, but also raising the issue with your local leaf flood authority as well, to sort of…

241 00:46:44.200 --> 00:46:50.989 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: highlight that. I mean, I'm sure these are all things you've already done slash thought of, but, I think it is important to

242 00:46:50.990 --> 00:46:58.930 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: Kind of know that, like, with respect to, sort of, capacity and funding problems, which are seen nationwide,

243 00:46:58.930 --> 00:46:59.500 Andrew Clegg, Martock: Yeah.

244 00:46:59.500 --> 00:47:09.229 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: I think posing those issues with them, and with, kind of, rather than anecdotal evidence, with, sort of, the topographical and engineering reports can be really, really beneficial.

245 00:47:09.550 --> 00:47:12.350 Andrew Clegg, Martock: We're actually on very good terms.

246 00:47:12.350 --> 00:47:36.459 Andrew Clegg, Martock: telephone terms with the LLFA, the local… all the flood agencies, the IDB and the Somerset River Authorities, because they all know about Martok. It's an interesting place to come and study, and we've got a rather good flood warden coordinator here, who has won a national prize for the Hilster Levels scheme, you know, on television.

247 00:47:36.460 --> 00:47:53.810 Andrew Clegg, Martock: So we're quite well known, at getting under the skin of the Environment Agency, but it's still, you know, it's not really their fault. Well, it is their fault in a way, but, I just… the problem is that the planning,

248 00:47:53.810 --> 00:48:04.539 Andrew Clegg, Martock: procedure enables Barrett's and other people, I mentioned Barrett's because they're the ones that have committed the latest offense in the village.

249 00:48:04.540 --> 00:48:22.099 Andrew Clegg, Martock: They… they can… they can get… they… they can get their planning applications past the Somerset, simply because the Environment Agency is not able to show that this is a… that they're… this is a flooding… a flooding area.

250 00:48:22.100 --> 00:48:24.410 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: We can show it, but who are we?

251 00:48:24.710 --> 00:48:36.389 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: Yeah, no, it really is a difficult situation. I mean, I guess it… with all the, sort of, the red tape around these situations, it just highlights the importance of community resilience.

252 00:48:36.390 --> 00:48:42.600 Andrew Clegg, Martock: Last time it happened, the day after Barrett's got their way.

253 00:48:42.700 --> 00:49:03.019 Andrew Clegg, Martock: the whole site flooded, and we've got a lovely photograph that somebody took of a flooded field with a little model boat on it, which they put on there. And we're just waiting now for that field to flood again, and we keep warning the people who've bought the houses there that they really should be prepared, be prepared, but…

254 00:49:03.170 --> 00:49:05.429 Andrew Clegg, Martock: It's a big problem.

255 00:49:05.710 --> 00:49:18.779 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: No, absolutely, and I think, I mean, it's good that you have those relationships and connections in your area, and I guess just utilizing them, really. I know, yeah, I know Penny has… has your issue, so I'll, yeah, I'll leave it there, thank you.

256 00:49:18.810 --> 00:49:20.609 Andrew Clegg, Martock: Okay, Lucy, thanks.

257 00:49:22.550 --> 00:49:25.449 Penny Q - Weymouth: Yep, no, thank you. I mean, yeah, I mean, we could…

258 00:49:25.670 --> 00:49:31.030 Penny Q - Weymouth: Moan about all of this forever, and it's… it's frustrating, because there doesn't seem to be…

259 00:49:31.300 --> 00:49:42.949 Penny Q - Weymouth: there doesn't seem to be a way to address it that feels balanced and, I don't know, logical, really. So where we've got to, locally is…

260 00:49:43.600 --> 00:49:57.299 Penny Q - Weymouth: you know, we had something called the BRIC Project that was run here, which was building resilience in communities. They missed out the flood-affected bit, but it was flood-affected communities when there was still some European money floating around.

261 00:49:57.480 --> 00:50:16.529 Penny Q - Weymouth: And they did a big piece of work in the Park District in Weymouth, which is on, you know, below sea level and at risk of flooding, all the time now. People buy houses there. They can't get insured, they accept that they will, you know, they're… they're… they're vulnerable.

262 00:50:16.760 --> 00:50:27.859 Penny Q - Weymouth: So my question, and the question for us as a community, so I'm involved with something called Weymouth Climate Hub, so, you know, it's all around climate change and the impacts and adapting and…

263 00:50:28.090 --> 00:50:35.030 Penny Q - Weymouth: building resilience, is… there is an emergency plan. It's out of date, it's…

264 00:50:35.490 --> 00:50:41.109 Penny Q - Weymouth: it's inadequate, and it's not available easily to people. And…

265 00:50:41.350 --> 00:50:44.570 Penny Q - Weymouth: The… the meeting points that are…

266 00:50:45.180 --> 00:50:50.540 Penny Q - Weymouth: In it are in places that are likely to be underwater if there is an event.

267 00:50:50.580 --> 00:51:05.269 Penny Q - Weymouth: So there are lots… there are lots of issues, and when… when all of this stuff went on with the brick project, it was, you know, we thought something good was going to happen, but unfortunately, the money's gone, the people have gone, a leaflet was made, and… and that's it.

268 00:51:05.810 --> 00:51:17.889 Penny Q - Weymouth: we don't know… we tried to find out who the flood wardens were, to try and bring communities together to sort of say, right, okay, well, we need to sort something out for ourselves, because actually, when the chips are down, and the water comes up.

269 00:51:18.130 --> 00:51:26.559 Penny Q - Weymouth: we're stuck in Weymouth, most of the emergency services are in Dorchester and further afield, and we're not, you know, if there's a big event, we need to know what we're doing.

270 00:51:26.700 --> 00:51:35.010 Penny Q - Weymouth: M… So, we asked the question, is if we organize ourselves as a community outside of the

271 00:51:35.090 --> 00:51:51.979 Penny Q - Weymouth: statutory structures, so, you know, local resilience Forum and then emergency plans, and then you've got community. So how do… where do we… where's the interface? How can we make sure we're not doing the stuff that… I'm not sure if it was Paul or Lucy mentioned about duplicating.

272 00:51:51.980 --> 00:51:59.369 Penny Q - Weymouth: Where is the in? So, if we're organising ourselves, we're organising in partnership, rather than

273 00:51:59.420 --> 00:52:06.519 Penny Q - Weymouth: you know, in, I don't know, in a silo, as it were. But it kind of feels that there isn't a space for that.

274 00:52:06.670 --> 00:52:21.119 Penny Q - Weymouth: And when we talked to somebody in the Environment Agency to try and find out who the flood wardens were in this particular area, they couldn't tell us because of GDPR and, I don't know, all sorts of nonsense. We only managed to find two.

275 00:52:21.230 --> 00:52:24.000 Penny Q - Weymouth: And I'm… you know what, I just feel it's just…

276 00:52:24.590 --> 00:52:28.230 Penny Q - Weymouth: Well, I'm speechless, really, about how inadequate it all is.

277 00:52:28.910 --> 00:52:39.879 Paul Dixon (ACRE): I think my suggestion from the recent discussions we've had is that the National Food Forum would probably be one of the

278 00:52:39.880 --> 00:53:04.129 Paul Dixon (ACRE): the organisations, because they… they support local forum groups to set up and establish. They would know of the contacts in your area, they would be able to give you some support and advice in developing or setting up a group. I would then look at contacting the local resilience forum.

279 00:53:04.130 --> 00:53:19.769 Paul Dixon (ACRE): for either the town or the… probably the county, actually. There is a list of LRFs on the government website, so you can find who the coordinator there… there is.

280 00:53:19.770 --> 00:53:26.500 Paul Dixon (ACRE): Also, it would… are you in… are you in BCP, or is it Dorset? You're…

281 00:53:26.500 --> 00:53:26.980 Penny Q - Weymouth: toolset.

282 00:53:26.980 --> 00:53:28.090 Paul Dixon (ACRE): Dulce, so…

283 00:53:28.090 --> 00:53:28.740 Penny Q - Weymouth: Nicolor.

284 00:53:29.910 --> 00:53:41.729 Paul Dixon (ACRE): look at the local authority. The local authority will have some council officers there that do deal specifically, with flooding, and they

285 00:53:41.730 --> 00:54:06.099 Paul Dixon (ACRE): should be able to, you know, give advice, or… as well, of who the best people are to… to help you develop it. Because, obviously, the… the high-level local authority, the county, isn't it, now? Because you're a unitary, they… they… they have that responsibility as well. And again, your town council as well, you'll have the town council, so…

286 00:54:06.370 --> 00:54:16.570 Paul Dixon (ACRE): I think all of those agencies should have an interest and some skin in the game around what you want to develop there.

287 00:54:16.900 --> 00:54:19.159 Paul Dixon (ACRE): Lucy, you got…

288 00:54:19.660 --> 00:54:28.949 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: Yeah, just, as in I can't speak for Weymouth area, I don't know the area well, but I know with that kind of interface in Gloucestershire,

289 00:54:29.000 --> 00:54:34.009 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: with the LRF, we… I think we're quite good at communicating that, so,

290 00:54:34.030 --> 00:54:49.979 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: the LRF has a community resilience subgroup that meets quarterly, which I attend, giving that interface between flood wardens and the LRF. So, as you say, the interface between the statutory sector and

291 00:54:50.040 --> 00:55:10.740 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: community. I think, pretty sure also GAPTC, so, Gloucestershire Association of Paris and Town Council's representative also is invited to those meetings, so I think this provides a bit of that interface between statutory and community and make sure that we are all working on the same page. I know that floodwarding schemes and

292 00:55:10.740 --> 00:55:19.580 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: like, kind of operate differently nationwide, so it won't be, like, might not be relevant, but I hope that provides some insight.

293 00:55:20.970 --> 00:55:21.710 Penny Q - Weymouth: Okay.

294 00:55:21.710 --> 00:55:29.370 Paul Dixon (ACRE): Yeah, and PALC as well, yeah, your County Association of, Local Councils as well, they… they may…

295 00:55:29.700 --> 00:55:30.800 Paul Dixon (ACRE): Be able to help.

296 00:55:31.440 --> 00:55:36.590 Paul Dixon (ACRE): I've got the LRF contact details there.

297 00:55:38.240 --> 00:55:41.479 Paul Dixon (ACRE): Oh, Alison Lucy's asked a question there.

298 00:55:45.290 --> 00:55:46.830 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: Yeah,

299 00:55:46.860 --> 00:55:59.090 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: Yeah, sorry, Alison, we actually, GRCC are not funded by the District Council to operate the flood warden scheme in the Forest of Dean, so we have flood warden schemes in Tewkesbury, Cheltenham,

300 00:55:59.090 --> 00:56:07.039 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: Cotswold, Stroud, but unfortunately, yeah, we're not… we're not funded in the Forest of Dean, so, you'll probably have to get in touch with the…

301 00:56:07.040 --> 00:56:13.610 Alison Bruce Forest of Dean DC/WDPC: I'm sorry, I hope I'm not just jumping in here. I am so frustrated by all of this. When we had flooding.

302 00:56:13.980 --> 00:56:21.689 Alison Bruce Forest of Dean DC/WDPC: As a parish and a district councillor, I offered to get involved and was told, no, no, the officers are doing it all.

303 00:56:22.190 --> 00:56:29.029 Alison Bruce Forest of Dean DC/WDPC: I'm gonna have to go back to the district and ask them what on earth is going on. I mean, coordination just seems to be…

304 00:56:29.350 --> 00:56:34.000 Alison Bruce Forest of Dean DC/WDPC: absent, so I'll have to speak to them, because on the whole, they're very good, so…

305 00:56:34.120 --> 00:56:36.719 Alison Bruce Forest of Dean DC/WDPC: Thank you for that, that's helpful to know.

306 00:56:38.230 --> 00:56:40.849 Paul Dixon (ACRE): Another thing is, don't take no for an answer, you know?

307 00:56:42.790 --> 00:56:45.090 Paul Dixon (ACRE): Mobilize people.

308 00:56:46.560 --> 00:56:49.799 Paul Dixon (ACRE): Stuart, okay.

309 00:56:49.800 --> 00:56:56.970 Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: Alright, thanks. I'm hearing a lot about how to manage floods, but I'm not hearing a lot about

310 00:56:57.460 --> 00:56:59.640 Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: How to better prevent them.

311 00:57:00.270 --> 00:57:07.629 Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: I'm thinking now about, sort of, land management, regenerative agriculture, restoring the soil.

312 00:57:08.070 --> 00:57:11.730 Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: And I notice the NFU is one of your

313 00:57:11.850 --> 00:57:16.759 Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: sort of partner organizations. Are they getting involved in,

314 00:57:17.010 --> 00:57:24.759 Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: trying to improve agricultural practice so that we do build up more soil carbon. It does absorb more water.

315 00:57:24.930 --> 00:57:27.579 Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: And so, reduce the risk of flooding?

316 00:57:28.120 --> 00:57:39.590 Paul Dixon (ACRE): it's… it's not an area I'm sighted on, really. I think it would probably be worth, perhaps inviting someone from the NFU to one of your sessions.

317 00:57:39.750 --> 00:57:44.159 Paul Dixon (ACRE): it's a technical subject that I'm not… I'm not aware of,

318 00:57:44.530 --> 00:57:53.870 Paul Dixon (ACRE): So, I would… I would assume they are, but… actually, Andrew's online now, he's got his hand up, he might have something to…

319 00:57:53.990 --> 00:57:55.469 Paul Dixon (ACRE): contribute there.

320 00:57:55.860 --> 00:58:11.090 Andrew Maliphant: Okay. Served me right for being late, there we go. Sorry, Paul, I missed the early part of the session, but life carried away. There are a number of things, clearly, that need to be better joined up here. In terms of, at the parish level.

321 00:58:11.800 --> 00:58:21.150 Andrew Maliphant: people preparing for floods risk. I mean, it seems like you're a very lucky area these days, if you're not in any risk at all of floods.

322 00:58:21.290 --> 00:58:38.819 Andrew Maliphant: I heard somebody saying to me once, oh, we live at the top of a hill, that's all right, isn't it? I said, yes, provided you're not cut off from all supply and services. Oh, okay. So I think there is something about advanced planning, certainly in terms of the longer-term approaches that, Stuart has just mentioned.

323 00:58:39.040 --> 00:58:52.599 Andrew Maliphant: what I would suggest is we've got a… we've produced something with the help of Communities Prepared on rapid flood risk assessments. We take a quick and sudden look at our local area, see whether we think there are risks.

324 00:58:52.810 --> 00:58:56.870 Andrew Maliphant: And then we need to work on from there as to how we go about the next steps.

325 00:58:57.020 --> 00:59:02.570 Andrew Maliphant: from being a parish clerk in the Forest of Dean, for many years, and I don't well

326 00:59:03.740 --> 00:59:11.559 Andrew Maliphant: There, there is a depo, or there was, a district emergency planning officer, who sent round templates for emergency plans.

327 00:59:11.780 --> 00:59:24.310 Andrew Maliphant: You're making a face, Alison, perhaps you haven't seen one lately. Yes, indeed. I know at least one of the 40 parishes in the forest received it and never filled it in. So, we're on a bit of a campaign at the moment to encourage

328 00:59:24.480 --> 00:59:42.090 Andrew Maliphant: parishes around the country to think about this in advance. We've tried to do this without scaring the pants off people, of course. The emergency planning template that comes down from government, which is on their website, isn't really up to date. It doesn't mention things like floods, like heat waves, like wildfires.

329 00:59:43.070 --> 00:59:48.990 Andrew Maliphant: So, we do need to… it's on our list, the Great Collaboration, to produce a new template for that.

330 00:59:49.110 --> 01:00:00.870 Andrew Maliphant: that it needs to get around there. In terms of joining up with Resilience Forms, I've not been in touch with Resilments. Hi, Lucy, I haven't forgotten I need to get in touch with you. So we'll get there eventually.

331 01:00:01.220 --> 01:00:02.120 Andrew Maliphant: the…

332 01:00:02.500 --> 01:00:16.529 Andrew Maliphant: I'm guessing, because not every organization, not every regional organization is as efficient as every other regional organization. I think I can say that without fear of contradiction.

333 01:00:16.710 --> 01:00:23.079 Andrew Maliphant: The councils are different, the rural community councils are different, and so on and so forth.

334 01:00:23.260 --> 01:00:31.180 Andrew Maliphant: So, theoretically, we can get to our local resilience Forum, and they provide us with a template which helps us to plan locally and look at those things.

335 01:00:31.410 --> 01:00:35.700 Andrew Maliphant: unfortunately, I have… can't have any personal experience to share, but there's somebody else on the…

336 01:00:35.840 --> 01:00:39.659 Andrew Maliphant: on the call… did you cover this earlier, Paul, about in terms of…

337 01:00:40.130 --> 01:00:44.609 Andrew Maliphant: Any experience of resilience forms responding to local requests?

338 01:00:45.200 --> 01:01:02.490 Paul Dixon (ACRE): I… well, I made reference to local resilience forums, and we were looking at, how we could better, coordinate and improve the relationship between LA RFs and parish councils as well, and something we want to follow up on.

339 01:01:03.980 --> 01:01:11.989 Andrew Maliphant: I mean, what we're all joining about, and what Acre is about, of course, is about joining things up, and the more we go on in life, the more we realize that

340 01:01:12.010 --> 01:01:25.739 Andrew Maliphant: people don't necessarily naturally join up, because they're quite focused on their work and focused on, you know, what they've been required to do, and so forth. Actually, looking sideways is not really as straightforward as it might seem to some of us from the middle distance.

341 01:01:25.920 --> 01:01:30.800 Andrew Maliphant: The Great Collaboration is about joining up, and we need to do some more of this at the…

342 01:01:30.990 --> 01:01:45.079 Andrew Maliphant: I suppose what we're talking about at the regional strategic level, isn't it? Getting involved with regional resilience forums as well. When I give talks occasionally to parish councils, I ask them how many of them experience flooding, about between a quarter and a third of them put their hands up, you know.

343 01:01:45.150 --> 01:01:58.770 Andrew Maliphant: This is something that's coming, coming, coming down at us, so it's great to have the work, Paul, that you and, the Resilience Partnership did, but we need to follow through, don't we? Get the word out on the streets, as they say, yeah.

344 01:01:58.770 --> 01:02:23.010 Paul Dixon (ACRE): I just wanted to go back to the question around what NFU are doing, or around land management as well. I was just sort of looking at the specifics of the work program, and one of the areas is the Association of Drainage Authorities, which they're working on at the moment, is they're commissioning research in the wording here, the multifunctional benefits of low land

345 01:02:23.010 --> 01:02:47.030 Paul Dixon (ACRE): water level management for habitat, soil, peak, flood risk, and water resources. So, I think that relates, and then also the NFU, are looking at, identifying and promote practices adopted by farmers and growers here in other countries to improve their own resilience to flooding and the benefits to the wider catchment.

346 01:02:47.030 --> 01:02:49.640 Paul Dixon (ACRE): I think that relates to…

347 01:02:49.640 --> 01:02:59.260 Paul Dixon (ACRE): the land management and future best practice of soil and land management there. So there is work going on around

348 01:02:59.260 --> 01:03:21.180 Paul Dixon (ACRE): the evidence of best practice, and how that… that best practice can then be implemented to improve, land management, soil management, and then as a consequence, the consequences of flooding, and there will be research published, and hopefully then…

349 01:03:21.180 --> 01:03:26.449 Paul Dixon (ACRE): adopted, but it, you know, NFU, ADA, and others are all

350 01:03:26.460 --> 01:03:30.350 Paul Dixon (ACRE): Concerned about the things that have been raised here.

351 01:03:32.080 --> 01:03:35.059 Andrew Maliphant: One of the things, looking ahead, is,

352 01:03:36.420 --> 01:03:47.409 Andrew Maliphant: the world is changing around us. I'm told that if the Arctic ice gap finally melts, our climate will have a serious change, which will also affect

353 01:03:47.480 --> 01:03:53.220 Andrew Maliphant: the number of days in which we can grow food in our nation. So there's lots of things that are coming down the line at us.

354 01:03:53.260 --> 01:04:12.120 Andrew Maliphant: Government, historically… historically? Historically, has not been joined up. Both, all these departments actually vie with each other each time there's a comprehensive spending review for more money. And I witnessed that still happening last year. So, reluctantly,

355 01:04:12.160 --> 01:04:26.469 Andrew Maliphant: we're in the right arena for making a difference, which is the local arena, and getting things joined up. It's frustrating, sometimes, that we have to do stuff which we think is so obvious that other people further up the food chain, should we say, might have dealt with.

356 01:04:26.470 --> 01:04:39.380 Andrew Maliphant: But… but no, so I think the more that we can do sessions like this, discussions like this, actions that we can follow through, either collectively or separately, is… is very important, because

357 01:04:39.510 --> 01:04:45.299 Andrew Maliphant: As my friend Jules says when he gives a talk, nobody's coming to save us.

358 01:04:45.880 --> 01:04:49.450 Andrew Maliphant: Oh, excuse me. So we need to crack on.

359 01:04:49.870 --> 01:04:57.999 Andrew Maliphant: And, I mean, Paul, as I said, the Resilience Partnership, is that… has that completed its work, or is it carrying on as well, doing future things?

360 01:04:58.170 --> 01:05:18.550 Paul Dixon (ACRE): Well, it's ongoing, and what our next steps are, we're in discussion with, with NALC about the next steps for our research, and how we're going to deliver the response to that, in, you know, meeting with the other partners of the Royalford Resilience Partnership about the work plan. I think

361 01:05:18.550 --> 01:05:31.059 Paul Dixon (ACRE): what I say is watch this space. When we've got some more news about what we're planning, the support we can offer to parish councils, we will get back in touch, and we'll be promoting

362 01:05:31.060 --> 01:05:41.230 Paul Dixon (ACRE): We're looking at, case studies, and possibly some online sessions as well, so we'll, we'll be in touch, as you say, next.

363 01:05:41.230 --> 01:05:41.770 Andrew Maliphant: Good.

364 01:05:41.930 --> 01:05:47.589 Andrew Maliphant: Great. I mean, in the way that biodiversity and wildlife habitats is a great way of engaging individuals.

365 01:05:47.680 --> 01:06:03.470 Andrew Maliphant: My anticipation is that flood resilience is a great way of engaging parishes, because, you know, it is something that's real, and there can be an effective response. And part of that is about speaking to the other organisations in the area, yeah, sure.

366 01:06:03.470 --> 01:06:07.999 Paul Dixon (ACRE): Climate change is the big… is a big one as well, isn't it?

367 01:06:08.600 --> 01:06:10.140 Paul Dixon (ACRE): They'll need to.

368 01:06:10.140 --> 01:06:11.310 Andrew Maliphant: I'll bet.

369 01:06:11.670 --> 01:06:31.410 Andrew Maliphant: I think we gave one of our talks, Graeme, somebody said there's… a lot of people have what they called a psychological distance from what's happening. They can see that it's happening, but don't actually follow through in their minds as to the causes of it, what they might do about it. So, we need to have more positive messages about doing stuff, I think. I like the idea of having beavers. We've got beavers in the forest of Dean, of course.

370 01:06:32.860 --> 01:06:46.680 Andrew Maliphant: wherever they see on the BBC, oh, you know, it's a bloke crying into his coffee mug, oh, we've reached 1.5 degrees above average, we've got to do something terrible before we get to all 2 degrees. I'm thinking, that's not going to get people inspired to do something, it's just going to send them down the pub, you know.

371 01:06:46.680 --> 01:06:55.139 Andrew Maliphant: I think we need… we need continuous and better messaging, and it… things for the benefit of our people, rather than…

372 01:06:55.620 --> 01:07:03.040 Andrew Maliphant: You know, it's no longer… we can't say save the planet anymore, that's rather an outdated expression. Yeah, and we need the pub as well, thank you, Arsen.

373 01:07:03.040 --> 01:07:03.640 Graham Stoddart-Stones: Yes.

374 01:07:03.640 --> 01:07:08.929 Andrew Maliphant: We're doing the bombing play at the Lamb at Clearwell, though, pretty soon, Alison. See you there.

375 01:07:09.380 --> 01:07:21.070 Graham Stoddart-Stones: May I just ask if anyone else wants to put any more points to Paul, please, before you wrap up this? I'm afraid we've lost Lucy, she's had to go to another meeting, but very good to meet both of you, thank you.

376 01:07:21.340 --> 01:07:21.890 Paul Dixon (ACRE): Hmm.

377 01:07:22.330 --> 01:07:46.440 Graham Stoddart-Stones: No more questions. Well, thank you all so much for showing up, and my apologies for not managing to make it quite on time. Next week, we're following on yet again with the water issue. We're going to be talking about the Upper Bureau Valley, which I'm sure Paul is very familiar with, and how they're managing the land management initiative with the impact that it has on water, so…

378 01:07:46.440 --> 01:07:51.140 Graham Stoddart-Stones: Again, more clues as to what you can do in a major catchment area.

379 01:07:51.140 --> 01:08:02.029 Graham Stoddart-Stones: So I hope that you can all come back next week, please, and thank you so much for showing up this morning, and paul, thank you, and to Lucy very much for your inputs, much appreciated. Well done.

380 01:08:02.720 --> 01:08:03.520 Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: Thank you.

381 01:08:03.520 --> 01:08:06.720 Andrew Maliphant: I'll answer your question, Alison, Saturday the 13th of December.

382 01:08:06.720 --> 01:08:09.179 Alison Bruce Forest of Dean DC/WDPC: Thank you very much. Soon! Thank you.

383 01:08:09.410 --> 01:08:10.210 Andrew Maliphant: Yes.

384 01:08:10.210 --> 01:08:11.759 Graham Stoddart-Stones: Take care, one and all, bye-bye.

385 01:08:11.760 --> 01:08:12.280 Alison Bruce Forest of Dean DC/WDPC: Thank you!

386 01:08:12.580 --> 01:08:13.610 Alison Bruce Forest of Dean DC/WDPC: Bye!

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Markdown copy of the Presentation, for search and indexing:

Rural Flood Resilience Partnership — Great Collaboration

Presentation — 10 December 2025 Action with Communities in Rural England (ACRE)

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Contents

• About ACRE

• Our strategy and ambition

• Introduction to the RFRP

• The work plan

• ACRE’s role in the RFRP

• Action 12

• Action 20

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About ACRE

Action with Communities in Rural England

ACRE is the national charity for rural communities. We champion thriving, sustainable, inclusive communities that have the services and resources they need for equitable outcomes.

We work closely with our network of 38 member charities across rural England. Together we:

• Campaign for change

• Enable local action

• Improve support for those most in need

ACRE is the only national charity representing rural communities as a whole, giving a unique perspective. Our members are embedded locally, enabling us to:

• Maximise impact on the ground

• Identify emerging trends quickly

• Understand impacts of national changes on rural communities

Pg 6 of strategy.

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ACRE and the RFRP

What we bring to the partnership

ACRE provides several distinct capabilities:

• Efficient access to a national network of organisations embedded in rural communities

• Expert advice and lived experience from rural communities

• Intelligence and connections with national/local policymakers and service delivery organisations

• Convening capability across diverse interests

• Acknowledged specialists in village hall & community building management, delivered through a national adviser network

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ACRE’s Role in the RFRP

ACRE is lead organisation for:

Action 12 — Community of Practice

Develop a community of practice (COP) to share and promote best practice.

Action 20 — Working with NALC

Supporting parish and town councils to improve flood resilience using planning processes and other tools.

ACRE also contributes actively to:

• Action 1 – Building evidence base and world-class research

• Action 8 – Reviewing and improving public policy for practical action

• Action 13 – Helping rural communities work better with Local Resilience Forums (LRFs)

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Action 12: Community of Practice — Key Outputs

• 15–20 ACRE members attend each COP meeting

  • Share contacts, case studies, best practice

• RFRP members have gained access to the ACRE Network for knowledge sharing

  • Example:

    • Ian Moodie (ADA) → role of Internal Drainage Boards

    • Emma Thomson (EA) → engagement with Local Resilience Forums

• Survey of ACRE members conducted to:

  • Establish baseline of experience, perspectives, key relationships and activities

  • Identify areas where activity can deliver greatest impact

• 28 responses — providing valuable insights into:

  • Local attitudes

  • On-the-ground activity

  • Future priorities

Survey results presented at RFRP 23 Jan 2025, now shaping future work.

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Cross-cutting recommendations from ACRE members

• Support resilience plans without overlapping existing work

• Clarify roles of agencies in flood prevention and emergency response

• Address duplication across projects and forums

• Improve coordination among local authorities and flood management bodies

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Challenges highlighted by members

• Infrastructure and maintenance

  • Poor maintenance of drains, culverts, gullies

• Surface water & flash flooding

  • Increased frequency due to climate change

• Planning & development pressures

  • Concerns over new developments and flood risk assessments

• Coordination & responsibility

  • Multi-agency cooperation and slow responses

• Funding & resources

  • Limited budgets/staffing in small parish councils

• Community engagement & awareness

  • Low public understanding of flood risk

• Data & risk assessment

  • Limited access to relevant data

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Action 20 — NALC and Parish/Town Councils

Objective: Ensure planning for future flood resilience is routinely considered by rural communities and those who support them.

Key activities

• Brief NALC on RFRP; identify collaboration areas

• Work with NALC to gather members’ views on building local-level flood resilience

• Monitor policy developments affecting parish councils (e.g., reorganisation, devolution)

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Survey — Purpose

A joint NALC & ACRE survey supports Action 20:

• Follows a positive webinar (March 2025)

• Seeks to understand what parish councils need to plan effectively for flood resilience

• Ensures any new ACRE/NALC support is relevant and practical

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Survey Methodology & Responses

• Launched 2 July → deadline 29 August

• Distributed to 43 County Associations of Local Councils

• NALC issued fortnightly reminders

• Low-response counties received direct follow-up

• ACRE asked its members to circulate to parish contacts

Responses

• Total responses: 654

• Duplicates: 66

• Unclear: 1

• Usable responses: 587

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Top 10 Responding Counties

• 65 – Cumbria

• 44 – Cornwall

• 40 – East Riding & Northern Lincolnshire

• 39 – Gloucestershire

• 39 – Staffordshire

• 38 – Buckinghamshire & Milton Keynes

• 36 – Northamptonshire

• 28 – Cheshire

• 26 – Cambridgeshire & Peterborough

• 26 – Derbyshire

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Lowest 10 Responding Counties

• 0 – Cleveland

• 0 – Merseyside

• 1 – Avon

• 1 – Durham

• 1 – Lancashire

• 1 – Norfolk

• 2 – Herefordshire

• 3 – Hampshire

• 4 – Berkshire

• 4 – Hertfordshire

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Challenges Facing Councils (Survey Data)

Key themes:

• Infrastructure & Maintenance

• Surface Water & Flash Flooding

• Planning & Development Pressures

• Coordination & Responsibility

• Funding & Resources

• Community Engagement & Awareness

• Data & Risk Assessment

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Support Needs Identified (654 responses, select all that apply)

Support Type	%	Count
Funding or grants	66.4%	434
Training or workshops	48.6%	318
Templates or toolkits	45.7%	299
Case studies / best practice	43.9%	287
Access to data and maps	45.3%	296
Other	26.8%	175

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Contact

Paul Dixon Rural Evidence Manager p.dixon@acre