Investigations and reports

Under Section 19 of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010, St Helens Council as the Lead Local Flood Authority (LLFA), has a duty to investigate incidents of flooding. The act states that:

1. On becoming aware of a flood in its area, a lead local flood authority must, to the extent that it considers it necessary or appropriate, investigate:
(a) Which risk management authorities have relevant flood risk management functions, and
(b) Whether each of those risk management authorities has exercised, or is proposing to exercise, those functions in response to the flood.

2. Where an authority carries out an investigation under subsection (1) it must:
(a) Publish the results of its investigation, and
(b) Notify any relevant risk management authorities.

A Section 19 flood investigation report is a public statement of the circumstances of a flood event and what parties have a role in managing the risks. The investigation is not an in-depth analysis of the flood risk or mechanisms (hydraulic modelling of the risks and reduction options are not part of the investigation). Additionally, flood investigations do not give the Council powers to require any parties to undertake any work.

Section 19 Flood Risk Investigations Criteria

Under government legislation, the Lead Local Flood Authority (LLFA) are required to formally investigate flooding incidents, where appropriate. If an incident has a significant local impact an investigation will be triggered. It would not be practical, or possible, to investigate every reported incident. Please refer to the Lead Local Flood Risk Management Strategy (PDF).

Reports are investigated if it has one or more of the following impacts:

Caused internal flooding to a property used for residential or commercial purposes,
Resulted in major disruption to the flow of traffic,
Posed, or could have posed, a risk to human health,
Adversely affected the functioning of critical infrastructure,
Caused harmful impacts to environmentally or socially important assets.

The purpose of an investigation is to:

Investigate what, when, why, and how the incident took place,
Act as a means of identifying potential future recommendations for actions to minimise the risk or impact of future flooding.

Once Section 19 Reports are approved, they will be listed on this page. These investigations outline recommendations and actions that various organisations and authorities can do to minimise flood risk in affected areas. The reports help raise awareness and encourage positive actions to adapt, prepare, respond and recover from flooding in the future.