Flooding FAQs - Westminster City Council responsibilities

Why flooding occurs

In Westminster, local flood risk is mostly from surface water sources rather than running water like the River Thames. This is closely linked to the drainage system, including gullies and sewers managed by Thames Water, and their ability to move water away quickly.

In Summer 2021, 154 households in Westminster experienced severe levels of flash flooding. Unfortunately, this incident is not a one-off and in June 2016, widespread flooding took place in Pimlico due to heavy rainfall. Flash flooding can happen anywhere, and the impact may be worse if you live in a basement property.

Due to rising global temperatures, Westminster is becoming more susceptible to extreme rainfall that can include storms, flash flooding and higher sea levels affecting the River Thames, all of which can cause damage or disruption to human life, buildings and infrastructure.

In response, we and our residents are taking action to reduce our carbon footprint and become a ‘Carbon Zero’ city by 2040. However, we also appreciate that some impacts cannot be avoided.

We have several responsibilities relating to flooding. We are also working with Government and the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) to improve residents’ access to flood insurance, and ensure their interests are represented at the national level.

Responsibilities

Westminster’s responsibilities

We are responsible for the drain grates and pots known as ‘gullies’ in the streets. The gullies collect water at street level and send it into Thames Water’s sewer network. Thames Water’s responsibility begins, and the council’s ends, at the point the gully pipe connects with the sewer pipe.

We clean all 14,000 drains across the borough at least once per year. Some drains will be cleaned more frequently, depending on the level of silt in the gullies.

If a property is flooded, the council will respond in partnership with the emergency services and in line with emergency response arrangements. The council will provide support and care to the local and wider community. It will use its resources and work with its partners to mitigate the effects of an emergency.

Read a detailed guide to roles and responsibilities with respect to local flooding issues.

Westminster’s relationship with Thames Water

Thames Water own and operate the sewer network which surface water flows into from gullies in the street. Thames Water determines what work is reasonable to undertake on its network. The council has no powers to compel Thames Water to undertake work. However, we are in communication with Thames Water to establish why this happened and look at options to mitigate the impacts of a similar rainfall event.

What is classed as an ‘Emergency’

The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 defines an ‘Emergency’ as:

• an event or situation which threatens serious damage to human welfare.
• an event or situation which threatens serious damage to the environment.
• war or terrorism which threatens serious damage to security.

A major incident is defined by the London Emergency Services Liaison Panel (LESLP) as:

• an event or situation requiring the implementation of special arrangements by one or more of the emergency services.

Typically, a Major Incident involves one or more of the following:

• either directly or indirectly, of large numbers of people.
• rescue and transportation of large number of casualties.
• the large-scale combined resources of Police, London Fire Brigade and London Ambulance Service.
• the handling of a large number of enquiries.

The majority of incidents that occur in the UK do not meet the threshold to be regarded as an ‘Emergency’. The recent flooding in north Westminster was declared a ‘Major Incident’ by the London Fire Brigade due to the high volume of emergency calls received.

Emergency services or ‘Blue Light responders’, including the Police, Fire Brigade and Ambulance services, are typically the first agencies on scene during an emergency or major incident. Emergency services carry out the initial response with the joint collective responsibility of saving life.

The council works closely with emergency services to prepare for and respond to emergencies and major incidents. The council is notified of emergencies or major incidents by the emergency services. At the scene the council’s role is to support the local or wider community and to support the emergency services response based on the council’s day-to-day responsibilities and operations.

Flood response

Immediate response

The Fire Brigade is typically the lead responder for a flooding incident. The Fire Brigade role includes saving life and carrying out rescue of casualties or persons stranded by flooding.

Our staff were on scene during the flooding, working with the emergency services and providing support to the community. On the evening the flooding took place we opened a reception and advice centre at Porchester Hall, for residents who had been affected, and the following day we set up an information point on Kilburn Park Road to provide continuing assistance. These remained open for residents until 23 July. Staff knocked on residents' doors and delivered leaflets throughout the area offering advice and support.

The council works closely with emergency services and utility companies in response to incidents. We and our partners strive to provide accurate and timely information to residents during an emergency response, with key updates published on the council’s website and social media pages.

An independent review will be undertaken into the council’s emergency response and recovery team, to identify opportunities for improvement. Following this, revisions will be made to the multi-agency Flood Response Plan.

Please see the 'Review and investigation' section below for more information on the reviews that are taking place.

More information on areas at risk of surface water flooding.

Street cleaning

We sent Veolia streetsweepers and street washing vehicles to affected streets to clear and clean flood debris from roads and pavements. Resources were reassigned from other parts of the city for the immediate aftermath of the flood, for a period of four days. After this period, the main focus was on clearances of water damaged items from homes which continued for approximately two weeks.

Bulky waste collection

The council provided a free collection service for flood damaged household bulky waste items after the flooding took place. Book a collection for a bulky household waste removal.

Dehumidifiers

There was significant demand for dehumidifiers in the wake of the heavy rain. We are sorry and we apologise if it took longer than expected to provide dehumidifiers. Our contractors provided them as quickly as they could. We received 16 requests for dehumidifiers, and these were provided, on average, within six days.

Safety and security

The Metropolitan Police provided additional patrols in the area to prevent crime and anti-social behaviour, especially where properties were unsecured or empty. If you witnessed an incident or are concerned about community safety, please report this to the Police by calling 111. If there is an ongoing crime or serious incident, call 999.

Support

Westminster tenants

If you are a Westminster City Council tenant and have an emergency issue with your property, please call 0800 358 3783.

Council Tax

We will consider applications for Council Tax Hardship relief for periods when properties are uninhabitable. This is known as Section 13A relief and is a relief against a resident’s Council Tax. Applications should be made to [email protected]

Local Payment Support Scheme

We can assist with emergency food, white goods, and clothing via the Council’s Local Payment Support scheme for residents claiming benefits and who have no savings. Make an application for support.

Emotional or psychological support

We understand that flooding and dealing with the aftermath can be distressing and exhausting. After extreme experiences it is normal to have emotional reactions that might seem uncharacteristic to you. It is usually best to give yourself time to recover from these reactions, taking good care of yourself and talking to family and friends. It could be particularly helpful to talk to others who have also experienced the flooding.

In the first few weeks, it is not usually helpful to seek professional psychological help. However, if you are particularly concerned about your mental wellbeing, you could check this with your GP.

If after four to six weeks you are still experiencing emotional reactions that are disruptive to your normal activities and relationships, you can talk to your GP. Your doctor may have a treatment for you, or they may ask if you want to be referred you to your local IAPT Service. IAPT stands for Improving Access to Psychological Therapies. You can also contact your local IAPT service directly without a GP referral, but you do need to be registered with a GP.

Find an NHS psychological therapies service.

Wellbeing

There’s lots of health and wellbeing advice available at OneWestminster.

You can also e-mail them at [email protected]

For referrals to the foodbank

If you need food, please contact the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) for referral. You can reach the CAB quickly online by filling out an online enquiry form.

Shopping and prescriptions

This service will arrange volunteers to pick up your shopping and deliver it to you, or pick up prescriptions. You can e-mail them at: [email protected]

Insurance

If you have home insurance in place, you should contact your insurance provider as soon as possible to report any damage. Before throwing anything away, speak to your insurance company, and make sure you take photographs of any damage in line with your insurance company’s policies.

We do not have an insurance scheme in place for events such as flooding. This is because all insurance contracts are based on the principle of ‘insurable interest’; it is not possible to arrange insurance on behalf of other parties or for risks the council has no control over, or for the council to draw financial benefit from that event (even if to give to other parties).

Cleaning advice

This link provides some suggested advice on cleaning up after a flood:

You can find further information on cleaning your home from GOV.UK

Maintenance and prevention

Risk management

As part of its responsibilities as a Lead Local Flood Authority (LLFA) under the Flood and Water Management Act (2010), the council is also required to undertake risk management duties to assess, minimise, mitigate, manage, and monitor flood risk, particularly surface and ground water flooding. To demonstrate the council is performing its duties as a LLFA it must have certain documents in place, including a Local Flood Risk Management Strategy and Action Plan (LFRMS).

More detail on the roles and responsibilities with respect to local flooding issues.

Gullies

We are responsible for the drain grates and pots known as ‘gullies’ in its streets. We clean all 14,000 drains across the borough at least once per year and some drains will be cleaned more frequently. The decision on frequency is based on silt level data which we gather every time we clean a gully.

We aim to clean gullies before they are 70% full of silt to avoid any risk of blockages and still allow spare capacity. The flow of water from the gully to the sewer can only be affected if the silt level reaches 100%.

We have reviewed the gullies in the streets that were affected by flooding in the 12 months prior to 12 July and all the gullies were shown to be at 70% silt capacity or less at the time of the last clean, suggesting the current cleaning frequency is adequate.

We are undertaking a statutory investigation, known as a Section 19 Flood Investigation, to ensure that future incidents are mitigated and responded to as effectively as possible. When the Section 19 Report is published, it will provide a list of streets affected by the 12 July event with the details of the gully cleaning regime including cleaning frequency, the average silt levels at the last time of cleaning, and maximum silt levels. Please see the 'Review and investigation' section for more information on the Section 19 Report.

As well as our annual gully cleaning programme we also have a significant programme to repair the connections between the gully and sewer where these have failed. Over the past four years we have also undertaken extensive CCTV surveys of the pipe connections between gullies and the sewer connections to ensure they are not damaged and water can flow freely to the sewer network.

Short-term measures

In the short term, the council will review its gully cleaning operations and analyse silt levels. It will also review its Local Flood Risk Management Strategy and Action Plan (LFRMS) and decide whether to bring forward the next update, which is due in 2022.

Long-term measures

As part of its responsibilities as a Lead Local Flood Authority (LLFA), the council will prepare and publish a Section 19 Report in collaboration with its Risk Management Authority (RMAs) partners, the Environment Agency and Thames Water. Longer-term measures will be determined by the findings and recommendations of the report. Please see the 'Review and investigation' section for more information on the Section 19 Report.

Flood risk

Surface water flooding from rainfall is a risk across the borough. The council recognises that it can do more to highlight the risk of flooding in the borough to residents and signpost them to available information and we will be reviewing the information we provide to residents to improve this.

Flooding is one of the top risks on the London and National risk registers, both of which are publicly available documents. The government publishes information relating to the risk of flooding, including by surface water flooding to all properties. More detail about long term flood risk by postcode.

Information about managing flood risk from London Councils.

Further information about preparing for flooding.

Sign up to weather warning alerts.

Impact of construction sites

We include a "levy" in the charge for Highway Licenses that is charged to construction projects which could potentially cause an increase in silt collection in the gullies. The charge enables additional gully cleansing in these areas. Our Highways Inspectors also carry out gully checks before any licence is issued and they check them on renewal and at closing of the licence.

Highways

All our highway schemes are designed to comply with national and local standards, including ensuring that carriageway and footway levels are suitable to deal with surface water. The council also regularly cleans and maintains the gullies it is responsible for.

City Plan Policy 34, Green Infrastructure

The City Plan Policy 34 Green Infrastructure (from page 130) sets out the council’s strategic objective to protect and enhance green infrastructure across the city, including city greening, open space, biodiversity and access to nature, and trees. The Environmental Supplementary Planning Document (ESPD) provides further guidance about how this can be delivered.

Over the coming year we will update the council’s Tree Strategy and Public Realm Strategy which will offer further guidance.

Planning

Alongside policy in the National Planning Policy Framework and London Plan, planning applications for sub-basement developments are now determined in accordance with Policy 45 (Basement Developments) of the new City Plan, which was adopted in April 2021. Clause B3 of this indicates basements of more than one storey below the original floor are only likely to be allowed for large sites with high levels of accessibility for construction.

The implementation of our planning policies is regularly monitored through Authority Monitoring Reports. The Reports published to date monitor the previous policy framework before Policy 45 was introduced.

We are producing a new Authority Monitoring Report and we will publish it on our website in due course.

Review and investigation

We will be undergoing two reviews: a statutory ‘Section 19 Flood Investigation’ and an independent ‘Emergency Response Review’.

Section 19 Flood Investigation

As Lead Local Flood Authority (LLFA), the council has a duty to investigate flooding incidences in its area. Our Highways team are undertaking a statutory investigation, known as a Section 19 Flood Investigation, in accordance with the process set out in Westminster’s Local Flood Risk Management Strategy. This is to ensure that future incidents are mitigated and responded to as effectively as possible. This report will be compiled by the council in collaboration with partners such as Thames Water and the Environment Agency. It will not be an independent report.

Each organisation (in this case, mainly Westminster City Council and Thames Water) will detail what actions each Risk Management Authority (RMA) has undertaken or proposed in response to the flooding on 12 July. Westminster’s functions are likely to be focussed on Planning Policy, Flood Risk Strategy, Flooding resilience and response, along with the operation and maintenance of its network of gullies.

We expect to publish an interim Flood Investigation Report in September but this will be subject to further iterations as we gather additional information.

Until the Section 19 Report has been published and has identified any improvement work for Westminster and Thames Water, it is not possible to say what the timelines for improvement works will be. Each organisation will be responsible for its own programmes of work.

Read the terms of reference for the investigation:

Emergency Response Review

We have appointed an external consultant to undertake an independent review into our flooding response. At this time, the review is focused on the internal and partnership response and recovery following the surface water flooding in July 2021. Issues raised by residents during the response will feed into the independent review. We expect the independent review to be completed in September. Following this, revisions will be made to the multi-agency Flood Response Plan.

Advice for businesses

If you require support, please call the council’s contact centre on 020 7641 6000 and state that you are affected by the flooding. You can also contact the Business Unit for assistance by emailing [email protected] or by calling 020 7641 2070.

If you operate a food premises, you can contact the council’s Food Safety Team at [email protected] or call us on 020 7641 1092. You can also find important advice on the FSA website on food safety.

Business owners who have insurance policies are encouraged to contact their insurance providers to check whether you might be able to make a claim on any damage or losses incurred due to the flooding.

If you are a business owner who is a ratepayer and have suffered significant damage to your business premises or have incurred significant financial losses as a result of the flooding, you will be able to apply for the council’s National-Non-Domestic Rates (NNDR) Hardship Relief Scheme

There are a variety of websites and resources that businesses can access on how to recover from flooding:

• How to recover after a flood from GOV.UK
• Would your business stay afloat?
• Free flood advice for the UK
• Recovering your business safely after flooding

Safety advice for businesses

You will need to do an initial clean and follow this by disinfecting all surfaces that were contaminated by floodwater. You can clean contaminated surfaces with a brush, hot water and household cleaning fluid. Don’t forget to clean enclosed spaces under kitchen units or floorboards. If floodwater was contaminated with oil or diesel, you’ll need to use a detergent such as washing-up liquid. Once you have finished cleaning, use disinfectant on everything that was in contact with floodwater. You will need to wash contaminated clothing and bedding at a high temperature.

Electrical and gas safety is vitally important following flooding. Before you start clearing up:

• check that the electricity supply is switched off at the mains.
• if you aren’t sure the electricity is turned off, get a qualified person to do this.
• don’t touch sources of electricity while standing in floodwater.
• get any electrical appliances that have come into contact with floodwater checked by a qualified electrician before using them again.
• if you use gas heating or gas appliances in your home, you'll need to get a Gas Safe-registered engineer to do an inspection after a flood.

The Electrical Safety First website offers more advice for dealing with the after-effects of flooding.

Miscellaneous

Counters Creek Project

We received a number of questions about the Counters Creek project and the impact this had on the flooding in July.

Thames Water developed the Counters Creek Flood Alleviation Scheme to protect approximately 2000 properties in West London by reducing the risk of basement sewer flooding to properties during a storm event in the catchment. Thames Water’s review will consider how the scheme may have affected the floods in July and further works that may be needed. The results of this review will be shared once complete.

Previous flooding data

Appendix B of our Local Flood Risk Management Strategy sets out the recorded incidents of sewer flooding to 2017. This data is provided by Thames Water. With respect to exceptional rainfall events, the council relies on Thames’s Water’s data and the volume of water over time will be established in the council’s Section 19 investigation.