Agenda item

            That planning permission be granted subject to the conditions detailed in the report of the Chief Officer (Planning and Environment).

The Committee considered the report of the Chief Officer (Planning and Environment) in respect of this application which had been the subject of a site visit on 12^th October 2015.  The usual consultations had been undertaken and the responses received detailed in the report.  Additional comments received since the preparation of the report were circulated at the meeting. 

            The officer detailed the background to the report and explained that the application had been submitted as a result of proposed works following the significant flooding in Mold in 2000 and 2012.  The scheme would include the formation of culverts and the installation of attenuation tanks.  The application had been deferred from the 22^nd July 2015 meeting of the Committee due to concerns raised at the site visit held prior to the meeting; the report had been updated since that meeting.  A further site visit had been held on 12^th October 2015 to view the point of discharge into the River Alyn.  The officer drew Members’ attention to the late observations where an objection from a third party was reported.  Previously Members had requested the attendance of the Council’s Drainage Engineer and a representative from Natural Resources Wales (NRW) when the application was considered and the officer introduced Ruairi Barry (Project Engineer) and Rob Green (from NRW).    

            Councillor Derek Butler proposed the recommendation for approval which was duly seconded.  He said that this was an opportunity to apply for funding from Welsh Government (WG) and said that if this application was not agreed and the works undertaken, then nothing would be done.  He felt that the proposal would alleviate any problems further downstream and queried whether the Council had the funding to contribute to the scheme. 

            The Local Member, Councillor Chris Bithell, said that Mold had been very badly flooded in November 2000 mainly in the West and East of Mold.  The floods had caused considerable problems and residents had been forced to leave their homes for several months and their health and wellbeing had been significantly affected.  There had been a campaign for a scheme to combat the problems and this had been achieved and residents could be assured that something had been undertaken.  The culvert through the centre of town was incapable of dealing with the water off Hafod Moor and was causing flooding problems at Cae Bracty, an area that was principally in Councillor Haydn Bateman’s ward.  Councillor Bithell commended many aspects of the scheme but raised concerns about the proposal to capture the Hafod Moor water and take it west of the town to Rhyd Y Goleu, which would jeopardise properties in those areas with the additional water.  Councillor Bithell referred to a scheme from a number of years ago which had proposed using the east of Mold unlike the current proposal which was to the west of the town.  He spoke of the cost of the scheme which would increase water into the River Alyn and said that it had been indicated that the water from Hafod Moor would peak before the water from the catchment area.  It was reported that the attenuation tanks would be necessary to meet the required design criteria of the 100 year (+ climate change) event but Councillor Bithell said that in 1974 there had been two severe storms.  He also spoke of the flooding that had occurred in 2000 after a prolonged period of heavy rain and raised concern that this could happen again and that water could not be controlled.   

            Councillor Owen Thomas commented on the flooding in the Love Lane car park in Mold which had occurred during the last 12 months and raised concern that putting more water into the River Alyn to the west of the town would increase problems.             Councillor Richard Jones spoke of the inspection and maintenance of the drains and asked how it could be ensured that funding was available to undertake this in times of reduced resources. 

            In response to the comments made, the Project Engineer said that he agreed with the comments of Councillor Bithell about not being able to control water and said that the proposed scheme would ensure that the flood risk was managed.  He referred to early designs of a scheme to take the water to the south east of Mold but following a project appraisal report which identified work on uphill land that would need to be undertaken, this had increased the costs three-fold when compared to this current application.  He commented on the cost/benefit ratio and advised that the impact of the scheme on the River Alyn was negligible.  On the issue of maintenance of the tanks, he advised that the bypass channel was on third party land and, in referring to two pumping stations in the town, said that funding for future maintenance was a matter for discussion beyond the planning application.  He added that planning was one aspect of the scheme and funding and deliverability were separate issues. 

            The Chief Officer (Planning and Environment) referred to the query from Councillor Butler about whether the Council had funding available for the scheme.  He advised that the authority did not have the monies to fully support the scheme but had retained some money to put towards it.  However he reminded the Committee that the Council would not be able to bid for funding if planning permission was not in place. 

            The Planning Strategy Manager felt that the Committee could either decide to do nothing and risk flooding reoccurring in the future or take a proactive approach and implement a scheme that could manage the risk.  He added that it was a clear cut case. 

            Mr. Green from NRW spoke of the modelling work that had been undertaken to identify the impact on the River Alyn.  He commented on the unpredictability of flood events and of the negligible impact of this scheme on a small number of properties. 

            In summing up, Councillor Butler spoke of the concerns that had been raised by Members but added that the Environment Agency should also take a share of the responsibility for not coming up with the finance to do a proper job.   He raised concern that the costs of this project would escalate year on year but that to do nothing would still generate costs and cause problems for residents due to flooding.  He concluded that he had the same concerns as the Local Member but that he would prefer that the scheme progressed rather than nothing being done.                      

            RESOLVED:

            That planning permission be granted subject to the conditions detailed in the report of the Chief Officer (Planning and Environment).