MINUTES OF MEETING Present: Bryan Curtis (BC) Simon Herrington (SH) Roger Spencer (RS) David Lowsley (DL) Peter Padget (PP) Nick Bean (NB) Uwe Dornbusch (UD) Andrew Crates (AC) John O Flynn (JO F) Tim Bartlett (TB) Graham Kean (GK) Andy Jeffrey (AJ) Duncan Edgard-Maxwell Graham Harris (GH) Dan Amos (DA) Claire Milburn (CM) Worthing Borough Council (Chair) Herrington Consulting Ltd (Secretary) Arun District Council Chichester District Council Eastbourne Borough Council Lewes District Council Wealden Borough Council Canterbury City Council MoD (DEM) Shepway District Council Worthing Borough Council Canterbury City Council Held at Committee Room 1, Arun Civic Centre, Littlehampton 15 th September 2011 1
Agenda Item No. Discussion Actions 1 Introductions & Outline of Meeting 2 Apologies Apologies were received from: John Davey (Brighton Marina), Colin Payne (Shepway DC), Ted Edwards (Canterbury City Council), Martin Eade (Brighton & Hove City Council), Tom Schindl (East Sussex County Council), Lindsay Frost (Lewes District Council) & Mike Knowles (Swale Borough Council) 3 Minutes of previous meeting & matters arising 3 (4.14) UD s action completed (4.16) BC s actions are ongoing on this item 9 Covered under this agenda BC is producing a draft cabinet report and will circulate when complete 11 Covered under item 9 of this agenda 14 BC has prepared and issued the Group s response to the National Planning Policy Framework consultation. 21 UD circulated these documents following the last meeting All minutes were agreed as accurate (proposed by RS and accepted by BC). 4 Chairman s Report 4.1 The group discussed the merits of circulating the minutes of the CIWEM Rivers & Coastal group meeting. It was agreed that a link to the CIWEM site will be added to the SECG website. BC to liaise with CM BC/CM 4.2 CIRIA Water Advisory Panel BC asked the group for ideas that could be covered by the panel and that would be of interest to the group. The following were suggested: - Structures that are adoptable - A simplification of the assessment of the standard of protection of coastal structures. 5 FCERM 11 Feedback 5.1 An overview report covering the key elements of the conference was circulated along with the other papers for this meeting. The following points were discussed: - BC has requested that more emphasis is given to coastal issues - BC is also talking with Bob Earl about the possibilities of adding a second day to the conference. This would be focussed more on coastal and Local Authority issues and would allow more time for networking. 2
- Feedback from the group was focussed on the lack of coastal erosion papers. Also more technical papers would be welcome. This year was predominantly policy focussed. - Feedback from TE (provided by AJ) TE felt that issues on funding were not dealt with particularly well and direct answers from the panel were avoided. - RS commented that he was disappointment that there will be no specific guidance on funding coming from the EA 6 Training Considering our future needs (CH) 6.1 BC brought to the Group s attention the fact that the EA have a new e- learning website. TB commented that he has a student using this website at the moment and will provide feedback for the group. TB 6.2 BC asked the Group for ideas for specific training. The following suggestions were put forward: - TB suggested a training course on negotiation - UD informed the group that SCOPAC are holding a training course on toe structures. - Group requested that a Toolkit Talk seminar be run to make the group aware of all guidance documents that are available. BC asked the group to feedback any thoughts on training needs over the next month or so. 6.3 Group agreed that there is a need to chase up contacts at South Downs National Park and invite to SECG All BC 7 Finance 7.1 The financial statement was circulated with the papers for the meeting. GH commented that there will be other expenditures added and a revised statement will be circulated shortly. 7.2 GH also mentioned that finances are audited every year at the moment. It was proposed by GH that audits are to be carried out every 2 years. BC proposed this and NB seconded. GH 8 SMP2 & Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategies Updates (VC s) 8.1 The Vice Chairs gave an update on SMP status for their respective SMP frontages South Downs SMP RS confirmed that there had been no change in SMP status since the last meeting 3
RS also informed the group that the Arun frontage strategy is awaiting approval of additional funding before work can be undertaken to finalise Beachy Head to South Foreland SMP - GH confirmed that they are nearing completion of the Action Plan. GH raised the questions what do we do with the Action Plan once it has been finalised? AC suggested that the VC s get together to agree a way forward. GH also gave an update on the Folkestone to Cliff End strategy. EA are currently looking at how this strategy can be delivered. South Foreland to Isle of Grain SMP - TE confirmed that the Action Plan is now complete. Medway/Swale SMP AC informed the group that the Action Plan is completed. AC to arrange a meeting in January to get VC s together to discuss how to manage the Action Plans in the future. AC 9 National Erosion Risk Mapping Project Progress, current situation and issues 9.1 BC updated the Group on the progress and issues arising out of this project. The key points were: - The NCERM maps are now online. - DEFRA has agreed that additional 50 & 100 year erosion lines can be added, but work on this is still ongoing. - JO F asked the group to formulate a formal view on the published Erosion Risk Maps. All/ BC - The group confirmed that there has been no feedback on the published maps to date from members of the public and members. - UD asked the group if they would re-pilot the current pilot, i.e. add the 50 & 100 year erosion lines the existing pilots. The group commented that they would prefer the changes be adopted along with others in March when other areas go live. 10 Medium Term planning Matters arising and monitoring 10.1 JO F had circulated a copy of the MTP spreadsheet prior to the meeting and talked the group through the different elements of the spreadsheet. 4
10.2 The group discussed the potential to review the live MTP spreadsheet at each SECG meeting. This would include updates on progress and expenditure targets. - BC to discuss a way of engaging with the EA at the monthly meeting review period. 10.3 - JO F requested that the group get FRM3 forms in by the end of January and pointed out that this can include claims for expenditure up to 31 st March 12. BC All 11 R & D 11.1 No items discussed 12 Regional & National Monitoring Programme feedback from annual meeting - DL commented that he found it useful when councillors attended. - Overall feedback was good and the meeting was found to be informative - Dan Amos gave a presentation to the group on the Strategic Regional Coastal Monitoring (Phase 3) 13 Coastal Communities 2150 Progress 13.1 The minutes of the first Project Board meeting were circulated to the group in advance of the meeting 14 Consultations: 14.1 None since last meeting 15 Website update and presentation by Claire Milburn 15.1 CM gave the Group a presentation and demonstration of how the new website will look. After the presentation the group discussed the website and agreed that whilst there are some additional information requirements to be incorporated, CM has done an excellent job so far. 15.2 In order to ensure that CM has the correct data from each member authority she will email the group with a specific information requirement form. 15.3 The group also agreed that in order to streamline the web development process, the VCs will meet to discuss the finalisation of the website and the specific group requirements. CM to contact VCs to arrange a suitable date CM CM 5
16 Performance Indicators draft paper to be circulated W/C 11 th Sept 16.1 This item was postponed until the next meeting 17 RFCC feedback and items for reporting to next meeting 17.1 BC informed the Group that he will be feeding back to RFCC and asked the group for points to raise. - RS suggested that the SECG next member meeting date is brought to their attention - TB suggested that BC ask members if there is anything they would like to be added to the Members Meeting agenda. 18 EA Local Authority Planning Advice 18.1 BC circulated guidance notes on this subject to the group prior to the meeting. 19 EA- Next Generation Supplier Arrangements 19.1 BC informed the Group that he is discussing the potential for LA s to buy in to this arrangement. INFORMATION ITEMS: 20 Dates of future meetings Officer meeting - 8 th March 2012 Elected Members meeting 12 th April 2012 Officer meeting 14 th June 2012 Officer meeting 13 th September 2012 Officer meeting 6 th December 2012 21 National Audit Office Report Flood Risk Management in England 21.1 A report was issued to the Group in advance of the meeting 22 National Flood Forum Bulletin Number 9 30/11/2011 22.1 This was issued to the Group in advance of the meeting 23 Houses of Parliament Post note number 396 December 2011 This was issued to the Group in advance of the meeting 24 DEFRA Flood and Coastal Risk Management Stakeholder Update for December 2011 24.1 A paper on this subject was issued to the Group in advance of the meeting 6
25 Dredging application and consultations (Area 435 and 396 Annual Monitoring report received) 25.1 BC reported that the Area 435 and 396 Annual Monitoring report had been received and that he has a copy if anyone is interested. 26 AOB UD - SE Beach Management Plan has been signed off DL Informed the Group that the LGA SIG may well approve a site visit to Chichester BC wished the group a Merry Christmas Meeting closed at 13:10 7