Notice is hereby given that Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council, as Lead Local Flood Authority, intends to apply, at the expiration of 6 weeks from the date of this notice to the Welsh Government, for the confirmation of land drainage byelaws made by the Council for the purpose of improving the management of land drainage and flood risk management functions in their area.
During a period of 6 weeks from the date of publication of this notice (04/01/2024), a copy of the land drainage byelaws will be kept at Rhondda Cynon Taf Libraries and Leisure Centres, and will be available for public inspection, free of charge, during opening hours. During the same period, printed copies of the byelaws will be supplied on demand (free of charge) to any person on application to the Council using the below address. A copy of the byelaws can also be found below.
Any objection to the confirmation of the byelaws should be made in writing and addressed to the below, within six weeks of the date of publication of this notice (between the 04/01/2024 and 15/02/2024).
Flood Risk Management
Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council,
Sardis House,
Sardis Road,
Pontypridd,
CF37 1DU
Email: frm@rctcbc.gov.uk
Tel: 01443 425001
Background
Under the Flood and Water Management Act 2010, Local Authorities in Wales were given additional powers and responsibilities for managing flooding from local sources including surface water, groundwater and ordinary watercourses. As part of these new powers, the responsibility for issuing ordinary watercourse consent under Section 23 of the Land Drainage Act 1991 passed from Natural Resources Wales (NRW) to Lead Local Flood Authorities (LLFA) in April 2012.
Since taking on this consenting duty and wider flood risk management function, practitioners have noted that powers under current legislation are limited and certain activities which are not currently consented could potentially increase the risk of flooding especially in more built-up areas.
To address the above issue, Welsh Government approved a set of updated Land Drainage Byelaws to help Local Authorities in Wales to better manage land drainage and flood risk management functions through improved regulation.
By adopting a standard set of Land Drainage byelaws, it will enable consistency across the Welsh Local Authorities.
Our proposal is to adopt the standard set of Land Drainage Byelaws as approved by the Welsh Government Cabinet Secretary for Environment and Rural Affairs. Some Byelaws such as those which relate to Tidal defences/outfalls are not applicable to the Council; however, they need to be adopted as part of the standard Byelaw set.
A public consultation on the proposed implementation of the Land Drainage Bylaws ran for a period of six weeks, from the 21st of November 2022 to the 2nd of January 2023. A total of 68 responses were received during the public consultation period. The results from the public consultation were positive, with approximately 88% of respondents in agreement of implementing the Land Drainage Byelaws in RCT.
To view the full consultation report, please contact the team at FRM@rctcbc.gov.uk
View the standard set of Land Drainage Byelaws (Appendix A).