Derbyshire residents to have their say on council’s Storm Babet flood report

Derbyshire residents affected by Storm Babet will soon be able to comment on a county council flood report after the authority’s Cabinet agreed to launch a consultation.

The council’s Cabinet approved the public consultation during a meeting on September 18 into its Flood Investigation Report which aims to create a record that could provide recommendations on how to manage future risks following the extensive storm damage.

Cllr Charlotte Cupit, Derbyshire County Council Cabinet Member for Highways Assets and Transport, told the meeting: “It’s a factual record of the events that happened and affected thousands and thousands across Derbyshire.”

She added the 12-week consultation will go out to the public so residents and communities can have their say on the report and all the feedback will be considered before the Cabinet accepts a final version.

During the storm, between October 18 to 21, in 2023, around 1,600 properties were flooded in Derbyshire which led to an investigation into the emergency by the council which is the lead local flood authority.

Cllr Cupit said the report sets out some recommendations to help those parts of the county that flooded either from surface water or from river flooding.

The council stated a huge amount of work has been done and that a multi-agency response worked well after hundreds of properties were affected by Storm Babet as well as January’s Storm Henk.

Contributors to the report include the Environment Agency, water companies, districts and borough councils along with the county council’s Flood Risk Management team.

Derbyshire County Council stated the delivery of the recommendations will be reliant on securing funding for future flood mitigation work and on a continued multi-agency approach.

Council Leader, Cllr Barry Lewis, said Storm Babet affected a lot of people in Chesterfield and Derbyshire and people have been coming forward for grant support to mitigate against future events which are incredibly likely.

The report sets out 35 affected communities, the unprecedented rainfall and its impact upon the county’s rivers with a significant proportion of rivers reaching record levels.

Cabinet approved the launch of the consultation into the Flooding Investigation Report to gather feedback from residents and businesses and a final document is expected to be completed by early 2025.

The Met Office stated Storm Babet caused widespread damage and flooding across the UK and that at least seven people were reported to have died.

Derbyshire police confirmed Maureen Gilbert died, aged 83, at her home on Tapton Terrace, Chesterfield, Derbyshire, on October 21, 2023, after her neighbourhood was flooded.

However, flood prevention measures protected 7,000 properties from flooding, according to the county council, although some communities were isolated for days with some areas of Chesterfield seeing three to four feet of floodwater in their homes.

Cllr Carol Hart, Cabinet member of Health and Communities, who oversees West Hallam and Breadsall, said: “I spent a couple of hours with some elderly residents in a cottage in my ward and it is a listed building.

“And it is good to be able to tell them we are trying to do something about it and mitigate it because sometimes they think – Storm Babet was that long ago – nothing is happening.”

The former Conservative Government announced financial support from its Flood Recovery Framework scheme shortly after Storm Babet for the worst-hit areas which was widely welcomed.