The Welsh Assembly has set out its Strategic Outline Programme and preferred option for the future management of Internal Drainage Boards in Wales.
The Internal Drainage Boards (IDBs) are independent bodies responsible for land drainage in areas of special drainage. There are currently 15 internal drainage districts in Wales, 11 of which are managed by Natural Resources Wales (NRW).
The remaining four internal drainage districts are managed by the Caldicot and Wentlooge Levels, Lower Wye a and Powysland IDBs.
Caldicot and Wentlooge Levels are wholly in Wales. The remaining two IDBs manage areas that cross the Wales - England border. The Caldicot and Wentlooge Levels is by far the most substantial of the three IDBs comprising over 80% of the total expenditure on IDB functions in Wales.
The Strategic Outline Programme looks at options for managing Internal Drainage Districts in the future and also considers issues identified in a Wales Audit Office report, and responses to a consultation on the future of IDBs. The Audit Office published a highly critical Report on management and administration of the Caldicot and Wentlooge Levels IDB in October 2012. The Report highlighted a series of irregularities at the Internal Drainage Board and found that it had misused public money and been badly managed.
The Welsh Assembly’s preferred option is to transfer all functions to Natural Resources Wales (NRW) with appropriate provisions made for local representation via a new NRW Committee.
The alternative options are to retain the IDBs with changes to organisational and governance arrangements or to transfer the functions of the IDBs to relevant local authorities with co-ordination through a new steering group led by an appropriate Local Authority.
Local levies currently contribute more than £1m per annum to the cost of managing the IDB, with a relatively small contribution (less than £200k per annum) from landowners. The Assembly says that there is no obvious, readily available alternative to these funding sources and that central Government funding is already overstretched. In the Assembly’s view, given the local nature of IDD and their beneficiaries, continuing the locally based levy and charging schemes to support locally enhanced flood risk work appears to remain the most appropriate source of funding.
The likelihood of increasing flood risk means the decision has important implications for the effective management of land drainage in Wales.
Click here to read the Strategic Outline Programme in full.
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