Purpose

Section 19 of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 gives the Council the duty, as Lead Local Flood Authority, to investigate the cause of flooding and produce a Flood Investigation Report to highlight this and identify ways to mitigate any future risk where it considers the flooding significant.

Sefton Council’s flood investigation policy sets out when it will undertake a Section 19 investigation. The legislation requires that these reports be published by the Lead Local Flood Authority (Sefton Council).

On the 30th September 2024 following prolonged heavy rainfall across Sefton flooding occurred in Bootle that caused 37 properties to be flooded internally. This amount of internal flooding has triggered the need for a Section 19 report.

Decision

Decision:

That the report be approved.

Reason(s) for the Decision:

On the 30th September, 2024 prolonged heavy rainfall caused significant disruptions to communities in Bootle and Seaforth around Bulwer Street, Deepdale Avenue, Riverside Close, Bowles Street (Bootle) and Seaforth Road and Muspratt Street (Seaforth) where 62 flood reports were received of which 37 were internal flooding.   

Sefton Council as the Lead Local Flood Authority (LLFA) has a role to carry out investigations into flooding incidents if they meet the set thresholds in its flood investigation policy. This event triggered a Section 19 investigation as more that 5 properties were flooded internally. The asset owner (United Utilities) on which the failure occurred took responsibility and dealt with the incident and recovery with support from Sefton Council. Sefton Council also has a role as a Category 1 responder under the Civil Contingencies Act. 

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected

None