A new strategy for how to deal with possible flooding events in Rutland is going out to consultation. 

Rutland County Council's new flooding officer Maggie Pearson has put together the local flood risk strategy which sets out the council's approach to managing local flood risk from surface water, ordinary watercourses, and groundwater over the next eight years.  

The Liberal Democrat cabinet approved the new draft plan at its meeting yesterday (Tuesday) and now residents will have the opportunity to comment on it before it becomes an official plan. 

Parts of the county were affected by flooding in January 2024, as the East Midlands had its worst ever three day period of rain. Homes were flooded and villages cut off. 

At the meeting cabinet member Christine Wise (Lib Dem) said: "This is a high level of how we are going to action the strategy and we need to be careful. People will be saying that ditch at the end of my road, that flooded and I can't see that mentioned. That would be in an operational plan and we need to be careful – we can't start putting operational detail into a strategy. 

"It needs to be separated and dealt with each year as funding becomes available. But we need to have a priority of what we will go for. What will we do if we had the money, because there is a habit of funding opportunities coming up with ridiculously short time scales. We need to have the plan, there so we are ready to roll with it. 

"That's what the strategy would do. What we can do in the meantime with council resources will be on a lower level." 

Cllr Paul Browne (Lib Dem) commented that flood management is a very tricky issue as there are lots of different agencies and authorities with responsibility. 

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The meeting also discussed section 19 reports which were conducted into the 2024 flooding. The reports found the cause was heavy rain after a period of prolonged rain and found issues with some pipe work and drainage in some areas.