New Reform council abolishes flood committee

A newly elected Reform UK council has abolished a flooding committee, despite other parties calling for it to be saved.

Lincolnshire County Council's Flood and Water Management Scrutiny Committee was axed by the party which took control of the authority in this month's elections.

The new administration said the change would save money and simplify the council without harming efforts to fight flooding.

Labour group leader councillor Karen Lee described the change as "reckless, foolhardy and wrong".

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the closed committee allowed councillors to hold bodies like Anglian Water, the Environment Agency and Internal Drainage Boards to account.

Flooding will now sit within the Environment Committee, which already deals with issues such as waste and pollution, and those groups would not automatically be invited.

It will now meet eight times per year instead of four.

New leader Sean Matthews promised the new administration would work "longer and harder on flooding than ever before."

"Whether you think it's man-made or a natural cycle of events, we won't neglect flooding," he said.

"We were elected on a mandate of reducing waste and simplifying the council, and this will do that."

Lincolnshire suffered some of the worst flooding in its history during from deluges in Storm Babet and Henk, along with fresh flooding in January.

Councillor Ian Carrington, from the Conservative opposition, said: "Flooding isn't just about technical solutions, it requires a web of complex relationships to work better. Those are forged and sustained in this committee.

"Abolishing it will reduce co-operation and silence voices which should be heard."

An amendment to stop the change was defeated, with all Reform members against and all opposition councillors voting in favour.

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