Agenda item

 

To consider the presentation which provides an update on the Council’s Flood Risk Management works across the borough and the priority Flood Alleviation Scheme Projects.

 

 

At the Chair’s invitation, Councillor Marshall, Cabinet Member for Street Scene and Green Spaces, introduced the item and commented that periods of bad weather often opened bad wounds for Rotherham residents whose homes had previously been flooded. One of the Council’s highest priorities was to ensure the risk of flooding was reduced and that both residents' homes and the vital infrastructure they relied on, were protected.

 

Over the past year, the borough had experienced how damaging and destructive severe weather could be for communities. The Council’s work to strengthen drainage systems, deliver targeted flood alleviation schemes, and improve long -term resilience remained essential.

 

The update to Improving Places Select Commission (IPSC) would demonstrate the real, tangible progress made towards the following:-

·         schemes already delivered that were reducing the risk of properties flooding;

·         new systems that would improve how quickly the Council could respond during storms; and

·         major projects that were moving into delivery phase that would provide greater protection for hundreds of households in the years ahead.

 

This significant programme of work spanned detailed engineering, community engagement, partnership working and long -term planning. Councillor Marshall expressed pride in the commitment shown across the service to keep people safe.

 

Richard Jackson, Head of Highways and Flood Risk, and Andy Saxton, Highway Asset & Drainage Manager, took members through the update presentation, highlighting the following points:-

·         Storm Claudia in November 2025 had been a cause of anxiety for local residents and communities. The Council had received over 80 flood reports. The Rotherham River network was susceptible to flooding due to the convergence of the River Don and the River Rother. As a result, work had continued throughout the last 12 months on preparing major schemes.

 

·         The Flooding Team had been involved in community engagement with councillors and local residents in the Catcliffe and Treeton area. For example, Hydro Sacks had been handed out, which could be used by local residents to protect against flooding.

 

·         An explanation of projects that had been successfully delivered across the borough was provided, including:- a new Highway drain at Dale Hill Close, Maltby; a scheme to manage surface water at Waleswood Camp Site; and additional drainage and creation of a bund (an earth embankment) at New Road, Firbeck;

 

·         Further drainage schemes, which would be funded via capital monies granted in 2024-25, were planned for the following sites:- Rockingham Road, Swinton; Main Street, Aughton; Meadow Bank Road, Meadow Bank; and Recreation Road, Wath:

 

·         Work had been done and funding received from the Department of Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA), to improve the flood resilience of 80 properties in Catcliffe via the installation of flood doors, flood barriers, air grates.

 

·         As part of the Connected by Water partnership (comprising the four South Yorkshire local authorities, Yorkshire Water, the Environment Agency and the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority), work had been carried out to develop an integrated flood and water management plan. There had also been early involvement with Yorkshire Water to look at improvements to combined sewer overflows in the Rotherham area.

 

·         A successful internship scheme had been completed in summer 2025, whereby four interns were employed for a six -week period and worked on the design of a specific scheme for Rotherham to improve drainage at a site in Swinton. As soon as funding was available for this drainage scheme, it would be implemented. Due to the success of the internship scheme, some additional local levy funding had been granted which had allowed service to create a two-year graduate scheme. This would allow the Council to employ six graduates on flood and water management and would commence in summer 2026.

 

·         Work had been carried out to map all 49,000 road gullies in Rotherham, with one ward left to complete. The Council’s highway asset management system was also in the process of being updated, with a new, publicly accessible dashboard system due to launch later in 2026. Three new jet vacuum vehicles had been purchased, which provided further capacity in cleaning gullies and septic tanks and clearing highway drainage systems.

 

·         CCTV cameras had been erected in ten locations across the borough, which allowed service to look at high flooding hotspots and identify problems more quickly. It was hoped to expand this facility in other areas across the borough over the next 12 -18 months.

 

·         In 2020, the council made available additional funding to look at flood alleviation schemes in areas that had suffered from flooding in 2019. As part of this, a culvert renewal programme was already underway, whereby cleansing and maintenance works had been carried out on pipes already in the ground, which would reduce flood risks.

 

·         There were six priority flood alleviation schemes across the borough, for which summaries and updates were provided:-

 

 

1)    Rotherham Renaissance – this scheme aimed to provide resilience to susceptible areas where the River Don flows through central Rotherham communities. A design in principle had been completed to increase the size of the river walls with sheet piling;

 

2)    Parkgate & Rawmarsh – these areas suffered from flooding caused by watercourses coming in three directions . An outline design to alleviate the problems had been completed and funding was being sought to commence work;

 

3)    Eel Mires Dike. Laughton Common – repeated flooding had been experienced here since the early 2000s. The proposed scheme here would attenuate (store) the water outside of the villages to regulate the flow and divert it away from residential areas. Two large flood reservoirs were planned, and negotiations had commenced with a number of landowners in the area;

 

4)    Catcliffe Pumping Station – a permanent pumping station was proposed for times when the height of the River Rother increases, to replace the work of six mobile pumps which were often deployed to this area;

 

5)    Catcliffe & Treeton Bridge Replacement – delivery of a new bridge here would reduce flooding in this area. The existing bridge had been in situ since the 1920s and the new bridge would have a higher bridge deck which should allow more capacity for water to pass under it; and

 

6)    Whiston Brook – this scheme involved plans to store water in a reservoir during high levels of rainfall and then allow it back into the existing channel as demand allowed. There would be a control element to allow water flow back into the existing Whiston Brook. Currently, 50 properties were at risk from flooding in this area.

 

The Chair invited members of IPSC to raise questions and queries on the Flooding Alleviation Update and in the ensuing question and answer session the following points were raised:-

 

Councillor Adair asked when work was due to be started on the bridge replacement at Catcliffe, commenting that he was aware that works of this type could take years. The Head of Highways and Flood Risk confirmed that the Council hoped to soon be able to award a contract to a design and build contractor. The original ambition had been to build the bridge replacement in three years. However, working on the River Rother would be challenging and would require permissions from the Environment Agency, which could be a slow process. It was hoped that the Council would have a design ready to show to local residents approximately one year after award of the tender and work would be done with the Environment Agency to reduce timescales as much as possible.

 

Councillor Thorp enquired whether, following approval of an additional £3 million of funding from Cabinet recently, the scheme at Whiston Brook was fully funded and when works would commence. The Head of Highways and Flood Risk confirmed that the tender process had been completed, and it was hoped that the tender award would be made within the next couple of weeks. The preferred contractor had provided a proposed programme of works, but a lot of background work would need to be done with the Environment Agency before the contractor could go on site. It was hoped that works would be able to commence in April 2026 with a projected delivery period up to early 2027.

 

In a supplementary question, Councillor Thorp asked for assurances that sewerage would not be allowed into the attainment area at Whiston Brook. The Head of Highways and Flood Risk highlighted areas of the technical drawings that explained how the scheme had been set up to deal with all the water courses and surface water upstream that fed into the scheme. There was the potential for foul discharge from the Worrygoose pumping station, but arrangements were being made to manage that. It was not anticipated that there would be any foul discharges into the system.

 

The Chair asked whether issues with the relevant landowners on the Whiston Brook scheme had been agreed. The Head of Highways and Flood Risk confirmed that heads of terms had recently been agreed with a landowner, and the land should have been acquired by the time that works were due to commence on site.

 

Councillor Jackson asked if more detail could be provided on the work to be carried out at Recreation Road in Wath and what timescales were involved. The Highway Asset & Drainage Manager commented that an outline design had been prepared for this area but that it would need further consideration, especially considering that it had flooded again that day, due to high rainfall. It would be important to ensure that as one problem was solved, another one was not created somewhere else. Investigations would continue to reach the best solution for the area. It was confirmed that funding was available for this project.

 

In a supplementary question, Councillor Jackson enquired whether the Council had ever considered installing automatic barriers to close roads subject to frequent flooding, of which he was aware there were some in the Doncaster area. The Highway Asset & Drainage Manager explained that this was not something the Council had considered previously due to the high cost involved and challenges of traffic layouts.

 

The Chair asked how footage from the CCTV cameras was monitored. The Highway Asset & Drainage Manager confirmed that there were several tablets where the footage could be viewed at operational depots and at Riverside House. As soon as there was a weather warning, the tablets would be closely monitored. The Chair further enquired whether the CCTV cameras were able to clearly record footage at night. It was confirmed that they could as the areas around had good street lighting. The cameras could also be manipulated from the tablets so could be rotated to provide a 360° view. There was the capacity to increase the use of cameras to other areas if concerns increased, and the CCTV had enabled service to react more quickly to issues when identified.

 

Councillor Tinsley enquired about the functionality of the new highway maintenance system (Aurora). Would the system record when gullies were last cleaned? The Head of Highways and Flood Risk confirmed that the system would provide information on when teams had last been out to clean the gullies and would display the programme of delivery going forward. It was explained that through the process, a further 4,000 road gullies had been identified, which had created challenges. Members were encouraged to signpost residents to the dashboard.

 

Councillor Tinsley also asked if the arrival of the three new jet vacuum vehicles would increase the frequency of road gully cleaning? The Highway Asset & Drainage Manager confirmed that service was moving towards a risk-based approach with regard to gully cleaning, with the aim of cleansing every gully at least once a year. In reality, in some flooding hotspots, gullies were cleansed once a month. Information held on the new dashboard would enable service to target resources more effectively. Councillor Tinsley commented that caution would be required on the risk-based approach as a similar approach had caused issues with regard to bin collections. The Highway Asset & Drainage Manager commented that the tablets could record three years’ worth of information on gullies so there would be a significant amount of data available to support the appropriate targeting of resources.

 

Councillor Taylor asked for an update on the water regulator at Woodhouse Mill, which historically, had an impact on the Catcliffe area.  The Head of Highways and Flood Risk explained that the River Rother had three different regulators which were operated by the Environment Agency. Where the rivers Rother and Don converge, these regulators were used as storage areas to move the flows into low-lying land in order to avoid a large volume of water heading towards Rotherham town centre. At the time of the floods in Catcliffe & Treeton in 2023, one of the regulators hadn’t been in operation and the Environment Agency had been required to do an extensive hydraulic modelling exercise to demonstrate that the flooding would not have been so significant, had the regulator been working. The Canklow regulator had recently been replaced, there was another regulator at Rother Valley Country Park, but the third regulator at Woodhouse Mill was currently not operational and the Environment Agency was looking into what needed to be done to fix it. Service was satisfied from the information provided by the Environment Agency that investments were being made in the continuing operation of the three regulators, which would contribute to protecting areas such as Catcliffe & Treeton and Rotherham town centre.

 

Councillor Jones raised a point relating to the earlier idea of installing flood barriers on certain roads susceptible to flooding and commented that if this was to be considered, signs would need to be installed sufficiently far in advance of the barriers to avoid unnecessary detours.

 

Councillor Jones also asked if officers were aware of any Yorkshire Water scheme currently ongoing at Droppingwell. Markings had appeared and surveys had been carried out on this road within the past week. The Head of Highways and Flood Risk confirmed that they were not aware of any specific current works but would make enquiries with Yorkshire Water and provide further information. Officers were aware that the pumping station at Droppingwell had previously experienced issues where the rising main had broken and lead to unexpected foul discharge in the area.

 

Councillor Adair expressed concern that the proposed bridge replacement works at Catcliffe could render residents in Treeton cut off for a significant period of time, and asked what plans were in place to address this. The Head of Highways and Flood Risk explained that improvements to footpaths were being considered to enhance pedestrian access, along with improvements to the flow of traffic out of Treeton. Officers and the Cabinet Member had recently met with residents to hear the concerns of the community. Minimising disruption to communities was a priority and there was the potential for the bridge deck to be constructed elsewhere and then dropped into place, which would enable the existing bridge to remain in place for longer.

 

In a supplementary question, Councillor Adair asked for further detail on plans to install traffic lights at the Aughton crossroads. The Highway Asset & Drainage Manager explained that temporary traffic lights at this location were being considered as part of the work to divert traffic when the bridge was closed. However, it was also possible that traffic flow in this area could decrease when the bridge was closed, as less traffic could come off Sheffield Parkway and down into the area. Work on traffic modelling was being done with SYMCA and temporary measures could be put in place at suitable locations to try and ease traffic flow. The priority with the contractor would be to minimise the time the bridge was closed to enable the communities at Catcliffe and Treeton to be reconnected as soon as possible.

 

The Chair referred back to work carried out with DEFRA to install flood resilience measures to properties in Catcliffe and Treeton. Service had commented in the presentation that the cost had outweighed the £5,000 per property provided by DEFRA and the Chair asked by how much? The Highway Asset & Drainage Manager explained that DEFRA had first provided a grant of this nature in 2019, but when it was provided again following the floods in 2023, the grant amount did not increase. Each property had to be surveyed to ascertain what measures should be installed, so this cost also had to be covered.

 

In an additional question, the Chair asked whether the interns who took part in the successful summer scheme would be invited back to see their work in action, if their project was to come to fruition. The Highway Asset & Drainage Manager confirmed that the interns would be kept informed of how the project progressed and would be welcome to apply for the new graduate scheme. The Head of Highways and Flood Risk commented that the scheme had been valuable in making the students more aware of the opportunities available for engineers to work within local authorities. It was felt that the investment in the graduate programme would help the Council to develop new talent.

 

Councillor Carter asked how service anticipated managing the contract for the bridge construction, given that delays were frequently experienced on projects of this scale. The Head of Highways and Flood Risk explained that the main unresolved issue with the bridge replacement plan was the strength of the existing footings. If the existing footings and foundations were fit for purpose and could be used for the new bridge deck, this could speed up the process. However, if they were deemed to be unsuitable and more substantial footings were required, this would be a more protracted piece of work, which would involve de-watering the area. These uncertainties had led to caution in quoting projected timescales. It was recognised that communication and relationships with local residents would be key and frequent drop-in meetings would be arranged with the contractor in due course, to keep people up to date.

 

The Chair thanked officers for their input and members for the questions asked.

 

Resolved:-

 

1.    That the contents of the Flooding Alleviation Update and appendices be noted.

 

(Councillor Sheppard declared a personal interest in Minute No. 45 (Flooding Alleviation Update) on the grounds that he was the former Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member with responsibility for this Service within the last 12 months.)

 

(Additionally, in relation to Minute No. 45 (Flooding Alleviation Update), Councillor Sheppard declared a personal interest on the grounds that he was the current RMBC representative on the Yorkshire Regional Flood and Coastal Committee.)