AN elderly cancer patient whose home was flooded a year ago cannot get flood insurance despite living 1,200 foot above sea level, a councillor has said.
Concerns over flooding across Torfaen were raised by a number of members at the borough council’s December meeting as Storm Bram, the latest named storm, swept in and caused disruption around Wales and the wider UK.
Blaenavon councillor Nick Horler said: “There is an 80-year-old who lives at the top of town who was flooded 12 months ago. He has cancer and his property was flooded so badly he lives 1,200 foot above sea level and he can’t get house insurance because of the flooding risk.”
The independent councillor said drainage in Blaenavon “doesn’t appear sufficient” to deal with water that runs off the mountain when there is heavy rainfall.
Councillor Mandy Owen, the Labour cabinet member for the environment, said there had been the same amount of rainfall in Blaenavon during Storm Claudia as in neighbouring Monmouthshire, where there were several floods but “thankfully with only limited impact” which she attributed to the “preparedness” of council teams.
But she said the “main challenge” was surface water runoff from the hillsides outside the council’s ownership.
National Peatland Project
However, she said it has several initiatives and has had funding from the National Peatland Project for the restoration of some peatlands that play “an important role in regulating water in the uplands” and which, if in good condition, can reduce flooding risk and will continue to be supported by the council.
A project to improve biodiversity will also help to retain water said Cllr Owen who said she was sure local members would “acknowledge there’s been an awful lot of good work to limit the run off of water from the hillside” and officers will work with councillors, landowners and the local community to develop further improvements.
Off-road bikers were also highlighted by Cllr Horler as contributing to the decline of the uplands and increasing the flooding risk.
In response to a question from Labour’s Pontypool councillor Caroline Price Cllr Owen said highest priority culverts are inspected on a weekly basis during winter and the lower priority ones on a two or four-week rota.
Highest priority culverts are also inspected when there is a severe weather warning and monitored during storms.
The council has also split its gulley maintenance programme, to inspect highway drains, into north and south teams to improve “coverage and efficiency.”
There is also increased monitoring to ensure drains are working effectively during extreme weather events which Cllr Owen said “we seem to be having a lot more of recently due to climate change.”
Additional teams are also deployed during the autumn to clear leaves from high risk areas of the road network
She said the council’s approach to changing how it operates, named The Deal, will also see it make contact with “at risk communities” to ensure they are “more resilient and develop collaborative solutions in the face of such challenges”.
Llantarnam Ward
Reform UK councillor Jason O’Connell said residents in his Llantarnam ward in Cwmbran who continue to experience flooding from water run off, and from rivers and streams, “feel insufficient progress has been made” despite council leader Anthony Hunt visiting them earlier this year.
Cllr Owen said the council continues to work with Natural Resources Wales and Welsh Water but in regard to river, or fluvial flooding, Natural Resources Wales is responsible and considers the risks to properties in Llantarnam to be “medium” with its work focused on those at the highest risk.
But she said the council has allocated money from its surplus fund to purchase flood gates and flood sacks and officers are continuing to work with the community on solutions.
She also planning regulations address flood risk from new developments, and that has been strengthened by sustainable drainage, or SUDS, policy in Wales that, since 2019, has required approval to address water run off before work on housing or developments above a minimum floor space can start.
Cllr O’Connell had asked if housing developments across Torfaen had contributed to flooding.
He also asked for an update on improvements to the flood defences around the Cwmbran Boating Lake which Cllr Owen said would require a detailed response which she would send to all Llantarnam councillors.