Accessibility settings

In order to remember your preferences as you navigate through the site, a cookie will be set.

Color preference

Text size

Issue - meetings

Sandbag Policy

Meeting: 05/01/2022 - Executive (Item 74)

74 Review of the Council's Sandbag Policy pdf icon PDF 65 KB

To approve the Sandbag Policy. 

Subject To Call In:: Yes - No action to be taken prior to the expiry of the call-in period.

Additional documents:

Decision:

1.       That the revised Sandbag Policy be APPROVED.

2.       That the Head of Community Services be authorised to make minor amendments to the policy e.g. adding or removing Parish Councils to the list in the appendix to the policy.  

Minutes:

74.1          The report of the Environmental Health Manager, circulated at Pages No. 139-145, attached a revised Sandbag Policy which the Executive Committee was asked to approve. Members were also asked to authorise the Head of Community Services to make minor amendments to the policy e.g. adding or removing Parish Councils to the list in the appendix to the policy.

74.2          The Environmental Health Manager explained that the Policy set out when and where the Council issued sandbags during a flooding event. Officers had reviewed the policy and found it to be substantially fit for purpose and the Climate Change and Flood Risk Management Group had also considered the Policy and agreed the minor changes suggested. It was noted that the Council did not have a statutory duty to provide sandbags to the public and it had generally been the policy to only supply filled sandbags to vulnerable members of the community. Householders and business owners were responsible for protecting their own property but experience had shown that the public expected the Council to help if flooding was imminent.

74.3          There were two changes proposed to the policy: one was to reduce the number of filled sandbags distributed to protect vulnerable persons property from twelve to six; and the other change – which had been suggested by the Climate Change and Flood Risk Management Group – was to add a policy on the disposal of sandbags. A Member noted that Parish Councils could keep a stock of sandbags so residents could get them from there and, in response, the Environmental Health Manager confirmed that the Parish and Town Councils had a stock of empty sandbags and their locations and contact details were contained within the Policy. Another Member questioned why there was no recommended action in the policy on how sandbags should be disposed of and the Environmental Health Manager explained that they were difficult to dispose of as they took a long time to degrade but he would consider what advice could be included on where to take them and how to dispose of them. The Head of Community Services agreed that this could be added to the Policy and information placed on the Council’s website.

74.4          A Member indicated that he felt the Council needed to be flexible with its policy. As could be seen from the 2007 flooding event, there were often people in those type of events who felt vulnerable that would not normally. In his view, the Council was seen as an emergency service by people that wanted to do all they could to protect their property and, in some cases, residents felt the Council had a moral/technical obligation to provide sandbags that may mean more than six per property were required. In response, the Head of Community Services advised that the policy had been amended to six following experience of flooding – the Council did all it could to help residents in flooding events and always went above and beyond to help its residents when  ...  view the full minutes text for item 74

Action By: HComS