Working with others – Medway catchment
We have worked with a wide range of organisations with responsibilities for drainage, flooding and protection of the environment whilst developing our DWMP. The organisations we worked with in the Medway River Basin Catchment include:
- Kent County Council
- Surrey County Council
- Medway Internal Drainage Board
- Dartford Borough Council
- Gravesham Borough Council
- Maidstone Borough Council
- Medway Council
- Mid Sussex District Council
- Sevenoaks District Council
- Tandridge District Council
- Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council
- The Environment Agency
- Natural England
- The South Downs National Park Authority
- Tunbridge Wells Borough Council
- The Medway Catchment Partnership and member organisations including:
- The South East Rivers Trust
- The Kent Wildlife Trust
- Thames Water
Working together to co-create the DWMP is important. Our drainage and wastewater systems are often inter-connected with the systems managed and operated by others and affect the natural environments within the catchment.
A wide range of issues and concerns have been raised and discussed throughout the development of the DWMP for the Medway. We are progressing these issues through the development of the DWMP as set out in our investment needs for the Medway. Further, we commit to working with others to co-develop and co-deliver schemes that meet multi-organisational objectives and which benefit the environment, our customers and communities.
We developed and ran a series of activities between 2020 and 2022 as we prepared our DWMP for the Medway. The dates and purpose of the various webinars, workshops, meetings on individual wastewater systems and interim consultation were as follows:
The dates and purpose of the webinars and meetings
|
Date
|
Regional webinar / River Basin Workshop / system meeting |
Purpose |
|
25 Aug 20
|
Regional Webinar |
What is a DWMP? Background and purpose |
|
03 Sep 20
|
Regional Webinar |
|
|
10 Sep 20
|
Meetings with NE and EA |
Discuss the Risk Based Catchment Screening and Planning Objectives |
|
16 Dec 20 |
Regional Webinar
|
Disseminate the BRAVA results for the National Planning Objectives |
|
07 Jan 21 |
Regional Webinar
|
|
|
Jan – Mar 21 |
Meetings with West Sussex County Council, NE and EA
|
Develop the BRAVA methodologies for NN, GES, Surface Water, Groundwater & Bathing and Shellfish Waters. |
|
23 Mar 21
|
Regional Webinar |
Disseminate the BRAVA results for the additional Planning Objectives included in our DWMP |
|
31 Mar 21
|
Regional Webinar |
|
|
29 Apr 21 |
Medway |
To explore the risks and potential investment options |
|
Aug – Oct 21 |
41 wastewater catchment meetings covering 61 systems |
To agree generic investment options |
|
21 Aug 21
|
Tunbridge Wells North and Tunbridge Wells South |
To discuss an appropriate investment strategy for each wastewater system, identify the options to manage and reduce the risks. |
|
07 Sep 21
|
Redbridge Mill Crowborough |
|
|
09 Sep 21
|
Motney Hill |
|
|
20 Sep 21
|
Gravesend
|
|
|
27 Sep 21
|
Horsmonden and Staplehurst
|
|
|
05 Oct 21
|
Paddock Wood and Tonbridge
|
|
|
Sep – Oct 21 |
Interim consultation |
To gain feedback on the SEA Scoping Report, the DWMP Processes and engagement and the emerging plans for each RBC |
|
01 Dec 21
|
Regional Webinar |
Water industry funding |
|
06 Dec 21
|
Regional Webinar |
|
|
20 Jan 22 |
Regional Webinar |
EA partnership funding |
|
17 Mar 22 |
Medway |
To discuss and agree in principle the Investment needs |
The regionally based webinars presented and discussed issues and information relevant across the whole or our operating region. The presentations used in the webinars are available on our ‘Who we’re working with’ page of the website.
The presentations we discussed at the Medway workshops are below:
Workshop 1: held in September 2020, participants discussed the findings of the risk based catchment screening and proposed additional planning objectives for the DWMP.
Workshop 2: held in April 2021, participants:
(a) discussed the results from the BRAVA risk assessments and the proposed investment strategy for the wastewater catchments within the River Basin
(b) identified the generic options that should be explored to address the identified risks, and
(c) discussed which wastewater catchments to progress through the Options Development and Appraisal stage of the DWMP.
Workshop 3: held in March 2022, we reviewed and discussed the draft investment programme for the River Basin Catchment. This included the types of investment, priorities and timing for investment needs and the wider opportunities arising from the proposed investment in terms of partnership projects and catchment wide solutions providing multiple benefits.
The findings from our public and interim consultations are available on the ‘Have your say’ page of our websit