"Defra’s current partnership funding policy only encourages financial contributions towards flood defence schemes from all beneficiaries, including utility companies, meaning councils which are facing mounting funding pressures are having to foot the bill.

Since 2015 £204 million has been invested in flood and coastal resilience schemes by local authorities and £119 million from local authority local levy funding that has been allocated to specific schemes. Over the same period the private sector has contributed £31 million, but only about £2 million of that is from utility companies.

The North Yorkshire inquiry was triggered by a notice of motion by councillor Derek Bastiman, who said there was growing political support for fresh legislation.

He said when he was leader of Scarborough Borough Council he had seen how the funding “imbalance can cause significant funding shortfalls for major schemes, very often delaying vital work indefinitely and greatly increasing the risk of failure or breach”.

Coun Bastiman said the situation was placing an additional strain on local government resources in coastal communities and others prone to flooding.

He said: “A recent example is the scheme to undertake major infrastructure repair and strengthening works to Whitby piers, as part of the Whitby Coastal Strategy, to ensure the town is protected for the next 100 years from the North Sea.

“A benefits appraisal carried out by independent consultants Royal Haskoning identified 4,242 metres of Yorkshire Water assets, 3,490 metres of British Telecom assets, 2,548 metres of Transco assets and 1,643 metres of Northern Electric assets at risk.

“Much of the above will benefit hugely from the Whitby piers project and yet because we have no powers to compel beneficiaries to contribute, no contributions have been forthcoming and this has led to a dependency on other funding sources, such as the Environment Agency and Defra, who are not direct beneficiaries, to grant the funding required.”

A Defra spokesman said the challenges being experienced in getting utility firms to contribute to schemes had been noted."

https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/latest-news/inquiry-over-whether-ut...

It should be noted it was the only sensible thing Steve Siddons ever said.

"Councillor Siddons added his concern that in the event of unforeseen problems arising from this ambitious scheme that the Council, not the contractor, would have to bear the costs.  He felt this placed an unreasonable burden on the local authority which would not have occurred prior to 2010 when such schemes were fully funded by the Government, and asked if there had been any discussions with central Government about reducing what he regarded as an unacceptable level of risk.  In reply, Councillor Cockerill referred to the extensive ground investigations which had been undertaken prior to works commencing, to help minimise the risk of unforeseen events, and that external consultants had recommended a £2m contingency to cover this kind of scenario.  He undertook to obtain a response to Councillor Siddons’ enquiry about discussions with central Government."

https://democracy.scarborough.gov.uk/mgAi.aspx?ID=39918

Mebbe it was his Rottweiler, Tony...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTjs5eo4BfI

Arthur bear liked it anyhoos ;-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_P1jifW37FM

I have some flowers to arrange :-))

Gertrude.