7th May 2024
The Chair of the Parish Council received an email from the office of the Rt Hon Dr Thérèse Coffey MP with an update on the risk of flooding in Bramfield from Suffolk County Council. The body of the email is below:
Dear Therese,
As the Parish Chair Ms Hughes states in her e-mail the topography of the area will always leave Bramfield vulnerable to flooding and the volumes of water in this winter’s storms, particularly Storm Babet were exceptional. In fact, we already had several known flood risk sites across the village before last October. However, she is also correct that upgrading the existing aged drainage infrastructure could help to reduce the frequency of such events.
There are currently 6 locations in Bramfield recorded on the Suffolk Highways Flood Site Register.
The flooding into Swan House is a relatively longstanding problem that has been worsening over the last couple of years culminating in water getting into the house in May 2023. It is on the planned drainage programme for 24/25 for replacement of the old clay pipe from the highway towards the Gull which has collapsed.
The other locations are known issues and will remain on the flood site register until we have capacity to begin actively working on them.
Although we would like to deal with all cases of flooding immediately, in recent years we have experienced more frequent heavy rainfall events and currently have a very long list of almost 1200 known flooding sites which far outstrips our resources. To give some more context over 100 of those involved flooding inside people’s homes. Given the scale of the backlog of work required to repair or improve highways drainage assets we must prioritise the sites we work on next.
How we prioritise sites for programmed repairs
Pitman’s Grove is the most recently added site with flooding of homes being reported in October 2023. The site has been given a high priority score and will be added to the planned drainage works programme but because of the high demand on limited resources and the complexity of investigation and planning drainage works, it is unlikely that we will be able to commence any permanent work at this site in the 24/25 programme.
From the Highway Assessment Officers reports the landowner at Edwards Lane has cleared their ditch which has alleviated the flooding problem. If that is the case that site can be removed from our list.
The remaining 3 sites are lower priority on our assessment matrix therefore there is little or no prospect of us doing any repair or improvement work at those locations in the foreseeable future unless an opportunity arises, for example if there are other major highway works in the vicinity or additional resources become available. However, we will continue to monitor the location as part of our routine inspections and undertake routine maintenance.
I realise some of this response is disappointing, but please be assured the issues have been recorded and if we see an opportunity we will aim to act more quickly.
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November 2023
The Chair of the Parish Council submitted a report to SCC and ESDC regarding the recent flooding in Bramfield. The report can be found by clicking this link
It is strongly advised that anyone affected by the flooding should report it to SCC via this link: Report Flooding
Here is a link to the Flood Recovery Grant Scheme
An update from ESDC is below:
Storm Babet Funding Update
East Suffolk Council is working closely with Suffolk County and the other Suffolk District and Borough Councils, to deliver funding from the Government’s Flood Recovery Framework as soon as practically possible, while ensuring it is compliant with the eligibility criteria laid down by the Government.
Residents
Letters have now been sent via post / email to over 100 properties impacted by the flooding and who have been deemed eligible for support against the criteria set by Government.
This will cover the DLUHC Community Recovery Grant (£500) and Council Tax Discount (100% relief for 3 months min and 100% on temp accommodation if displaced).
As the lead Flood Authority, and with overall responsibility for the payment scheme, the County Council have undertaken eligibility checks - and East Suffolk is now able to begin processing claims.
The letter asks residents impacted by Storm Babet to complete a simple online form to apply for financial support. For those who are unable to access the form in this way, or need assistance completing it, details of the support provided by our Customer Services Team have also been included.
Payments will then be made in due course, around a couple of days after the details are captured and verified. If residents have been displaced from their primary residence and/or are in temporary accommodation for three months or more, we will work with ARP to process another Council Tax discount claim.
Businesses
The process has been more complicated on the business side and is taking longer. This scheme covers the Department for Housing, Levelling Up and Communities (DLUHC) Business Rates Relief Grant (100% for 3 months) and the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) Business Recovery Grant (£2,500 per business).
For simplicity, and to ensure businesses didn’t have to complete multiple applications, we took the decision to combine both support offers in one form. Unfortunately, however, there were inconsistencies between the eligibility criteria for each scheme which have now been resolved.
Additionally, while we received the DHULC information in early November, the complete package of guidance for DBT grant was only received last week. There are also more stringent Data Protection and Fraud compliance requirements to address before processing can begin. Indeed, DBT themselves have been issuing further clarifications this week.
Businesses will now be contacted directly and asked to complete a more detailed application form which completes checks required by the scheme(s). Anglia Revenues Partnership (ARP) will be undertaking visits next week to begin the process of confirming eligibility.
DEFRA - Property Flood Resilience Repair Grant Scheme
SCC in their capacity as Lead Local Flood Authority are gearing up to administer the considerable additional work associated to this scheme which offers up to £5,000 towards a range of resilience works to residents and organisations meeting the scheme criteria. SCC as LLFA is also working in conjunction with the EA to manage an unprecedented level of Section 19 Flood Investigations that are now required to be carried out across the County, without any additional funding assistance being offered to fund this task as yet.
