Question from Councillor Hulley to the Leader of the Council:

“Has Runnymede Borough Council adopted the Motor Neurone Disease Association (MNDA) 5 Point Charter to help those suffering from the disease in Runnymede?”

 Question from Councillor S Whyte to the Leader of the Council:

‘’I think we all agree that Runnymede is a lovely place and many of us enjoy its green spaces and waterways. I was shocked, therefore, to read the state of many of our rivers and streams which have deteriorated considerably between 2013 and 2019*, mainly due to sewage discharge.  These include The Bourne at Chertsey, Virginia Water Lake and The Moat at Egham, all of which have an ecological status of poor.

What has the Administration done in the intervening period to bring about improvements to the ecological status of our waterways?’’  

*Sustainability Appraisal/Strategic Environmental Assessment (SA/SEA) Scoping Report for the 2040 Local Plan.

Councillor Hulley asked the Leader of the Council the following question:

“Has Runnymede Borough Council adopted the Motor Neurone Disease Association (MNDA) 5 Point Charter to help those suffering from the disease in Runnymede?”

The Leader of the Council responded as follows:

‘The Council had not adopted the Charter.  However, this could be considered as part of objective 4 of the Council’s Health and Wellbeing Strategy, that being to develop our workforce in relation to Health and Wellbeing matters, so as to improve the service provided to residents.  Cllr Hulley was invited to feedback his thoughts around this as part of the consultation on the draft strategy.’

Councillor S Whyte asked the Leader of the Council the following question:

‘’I think we all agree that Runnymede is a lovely place and many of us enjoy its green spaces and waterways.  I was shocked, therefore, to read the state of many of our rivers and streams which have deteriorated considerably between 2013 and 2019*, mainly due to sewage discharge.  These include The Bourne at Chertsey, Virginia Water Lake and The Moat at Egham, all of which have an ecological status of poor.

What has the Administration done in the intervening period to bring about improvements to the ecological status of our waterways?’’  

*Sustainability Appraisal/Strategic Environmental Assessment (SA/SEA) Scoping Report for the 2040 Local Plan

The Leader of the Council responded as follows:

‘Responsibility for water quality within our waterways sits with the Environment Agency who run an environmental hotline and a 24-hour service with respect to environmental incidents and all Members were encouraged to report any incidents to the hotline.

Within the parameters available to us, the Council responds as follows to prevent sewage entering the waterways directly and to prevent flooding which may lead to sewage contamination indirectly:-

·       We license and inspect all caravan sites and include a licence condition specifically with respect to drainage and sanitation requiring the safe disposal of all foul, rain and surface water;

·       Our engineers carry out a programme of land drainage flood attenuation work to monitor, inspect and repair our watercourses and ditches;

·       With respect to planning applications our engineers provide draft planning conditions for relevant new planning applications with respect to sustainable urban drainage systems (SuDS).  SuDS are in essence a series of management practices, control structures, strategies, and design solutions to drain surface water both efficiently and sustainably from development sites.  Their main principle lies in the treatment and management of rainwater, and they are technical solutions for transporting surface water, slowing down the runoff before it enters watercourses, storing or reusing water at the source, or allowing water to fall on permeable surfaces and soak into the ground.  A well-designed and integrated SuDS not only controls and mitigates flood risk by improving the quality of surface water run-off into receiving water bodies, but also provides opportunities to make a significant contribution to tackle the net zero carbon target through their ability to improve water quality, whilst also managing and mitigating both flood risk and surface water runoff created as a result of new development.

·       There are also a number of Policies in the Local Plan that seek to maintain water quality, namely

Policy IE4: The visitor economy which states that Tourism/leisure proposals which promote greater use of the River Thames, Wey and Bourne as a leisure and recreational resource should not harm local biodiversity or water quality.  If we received such an application, we would consult the Environment Agency and it would be them who would advise us if there were any unacceptable impacts from a water quality perspective.

Policy EE12: Blue Infrastructure which states that the Council will resist proposals that lead to a decrease in the provision and quality of, and fails to enhance, the status of blue infrastructure, in accordance with the Water Framework Directive.  Proposals will be supported that: demonstrate how they will support improving the status of failing water-bodies, in particular in relation to the requirements of the Thames River Basin Management Plan.  Again, for any application which relates to blue infrastructure in the Borough, we would consult the Environment Agency.

Policy EE13 could also be looked at in the next iteration of the Local Plan to further support water quality improvements in the borough’

In response, Cllr S Whyte asked for the EA hotline to be publicised to the public via the Council’s social media channels.

Cllr D Whyte asked the Leader and Chief Executive to write to the MP to make him aware of the deterioration in watercourses and ask for his support on applying pressure on the water companies to fulfil their responsibilities in relation to watercourses.

In response to a question from Cllr Darby, the Leader of the Council confirmed that the promotion of activities on waterways would be addressed as part of ‘healthy lifestyles‘ in the Health and Wellbeing Strategy.