The Board’s operational areas are principally in the counties of Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire but also include the Unitary Authority of Milton Keynes and other adjoining counties. These Boards have formed a consortium to maximise efficiency. For legal reasons the consortium is known as a lead board consortium whereby the employing body is the Bedfordshire and River Ivel IDB. The Boards are autonomous public bodies, constituted by statutory instrument, under the direct control of the board members. The number of members is set out in the constitution of the board. Membership comprises those elected every three years by the agricultural rate payers and those nominated by local authorities. The latter represent the interests of residential, commercial and industrial property within the Drainage District and in respect of which local authorities make annual payments, Special Levies to the Boards. The proportion of elected and nominated members is based upon the relative contribution from agricultural and non-agricultural land to the board’s expenses. Boards are responsible for raising income and approving all aspects of the individual board activities. They make an annual statutory return to Defra, which sets out in financial and statistical terms the financial year’s activities. The Bedfordshire and River Ivel Internal Drainage Board has 25 members:
Buckingham and Ouzel Internal Drainage Board has 25 members:
Alconbury and Ellington Internal Drainage Board is constituted to have 25 members. However, there is only one Special Levy paying Council, Huntingdonshire District Council, who does not choose to appoint their full compliment of nominees, therefore by local agreement the Board has decided not to fill 3 vacant seats in the elected membership. Currently the Board’s membership comprises:
In each case the non-agricultural areas contribute more than 50% of the Board’s expenditure and therefore are entitled to 50% plus 1 of the total membership. The Boards meet twice a year, in January and June/July, except on election years when an additional meeting is held in November. The two larger Boards also have a General Purposes Committee which has one formal meeting a year plus is called on an ad hoc basis to oversee specific items delegated to them by the main Board. The Boards have appointed a Joint Management Committee to oversee the administration which includes responsibility for employing all personnel, offices and equipment, and provision of vehicles and plant. This committee meets twice a year and has appointed an Executive Committee to oversee the day to day activities of the administration. The Executive Working Group meets quarterly. There are 10 administration and Civil Engineering staff plus a Direct Labour Force of 10. Only 5 members of staff are full time employees. In 1252 the Romney Marsh Commissions were created to provide a living and working environment in the Romney Marsh. The creation of this local authority recognised that in large drainage sensitive areas it required a combined effort beyond the scope of the individual to successfully manage the environment. This local authority approach was repeated many times, particularly in the seventeenth century, to ensure the best agricultural land in the country was available for production. However, it was not until a Royal Commission of 1928 that the present day Drainage Boards were envisaged. In the subsequent Land Drainage Act of 1930 River Catchment Boards were formed based on the country’s major river basins. Within these Catchment Boards there were areas particularly drainage sensitive, many like Romney Marsh, that had a long history of local water level management authorities. It was these sensitive areas that were designated Internal Drainage Boards; areas within a Catchment Board boundary. Over the centuries these areas have become more populated and peoples expectations in terms of flood protection have increased. Hence the work of Drainage Authorities has become increasingly more vital. There is a greater population in the low lying areas of England dependent on complex systems of land drainage and flood defence than exists in Holland. With over 2 million acres of land, including large areas of development dependent on water level management systems, it is essential that these systems are well managed. Without these works the environment, living and working conditions would suffer. Over the centuries successive British Governments have recognised the need to manage these drainage sensitive areas, initially to maximise food production and more recently to provide safe conditions for a major residential building programme. Drainage Boards have been at the forefront of providing local solutions to these Government initiatives. The Boards with locally elected members in control have the knowledge to ensure that their communities are as safe as possible, able to prosper and enjoy the amenity and biodiversity benefits that are available in well-managed lowland areas. With climate change high on the national and international agenda increased challenges are inevitable as weather patterns become more intense and sea levels rise. Expert opinion leads to the conclusion that large parts of the world will not be able to sustain food production, therefore decisions will have to be made whether to continue to protect the most productive agricultural land in the British Isles or to abandon it and the surrounding communities to the elements. With over 700 years of experience Drainage Boards are ready for the challenges ahead. BEDFORDSHIRE AND RIVER IVEL INTERNAL DRAINAGE BOARD Review of Works Programme 2008
DREDGING AND CLEARING Works outstanding from previous programme:
* work in progress † added following request for works Works proposed to be added to programme:
† added following request for work
Reservoir Flailing:-
(also mowing for Ivel & Ouse Project at Langford Common)
Annual Weed Cutting Programme (work carried out as and when required)
* the lengths of Elstow Brook which are subject to weed cutting operations are varied in order to protect the conservation interest in the Brook, i.e. the length of brook subject to weed cutting each year is on average 8500m but the actual reaches cut vary throughout the total downstream length of 14,500m.
RWS/RE Dec 2007
BUCKINGHAM AND RIVER OUZEL INTERNAL DRAINAGE BOARD Review of Works Programme 2008 DREDGING AND CLEARING Works outstanding from previous programme:
*Work in progress
Works proposed to be added to programme: < | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
