Water

Internal Drainage Board Review

Project Update

  • June 2009 - Project Board progress report (PDF)
  • 22 May 2008 - Letter from the Project Board on the production of Biodiversity Action Plans:
    • Letter (PDF) to all IDBs
    • Guidance (PDF) on producing the Biodiversity Action Plans
    • Biodiversity Action Plan template for completion by all IDBs
    • A list (PDF) of Regional Biodiversity Action Plan co-ordinators has been made available to provide advice and contact for local biodiversity partners
    • Maps showing the BAP priority habitats known to exist within an IDB’s district have been sent to Boards as added assistance in the production of plans. Some districts do not have BAP priority habitat recorded and thus will not have a map. If your board has not received a map and you think one may be available you can contact us at Defra, Area 2D, Flood Management Division, Horseferry Road, London, SW1P 2AL.

  • 6 February 2008 - Phil Woolas, Minister of State for the Environment, wrote (PDF) to all Internal Drainage Boards asking them to start discussions on moving to sub-catchment boards. The following material explains the rationale and decisions behind the Minister's letter:

The attached (PDF) Project Board progress report, produced to accompany the Minister's letter, provides an update on the progress with the implementation plan as a whole and provides revised dates for some specific strands.

Previous Project Board progress reports can be viewed here:

The following maps show the project board's proposed sub-catchments for future management of IDB areas:


Background

A review of Internal Drainage Boards (IDBs) was announced in June 2005 when Elliot Morley, Minister of State (Environment and Climate Change), wrote to IDB Chairmen advising them that Defra intended to engage consultants who, in consultation with the Environment Agency (EA), Association of Drainage Authorities (ADA) and others, would advise on the present IDB arrangements and how well each IDB fits into a broad model of how IDBs should be operating in the present day.

In August 2005, Defra appointed JBA Consulting to undertake an independent review of Internal Drainage Boards. The consultants were asked to make recommendations on suitable organisational arrangements that would ensure boards are efficient, accountable and representative of the interests of both drainage ratepayers and wider interests in delivering their flood management and other responsibilities, and to assess existing boards against these.

JBA Consulting undertook a detailed consultation within the sector including the IDBs themselves, Defra, EA, English Nature, the RSPB, the rate and levy payers and their representative organisations (National Farmers Union, Country Land and Business Association and the Local Government Association (LGA)), and all the other stakeholders who have a direct or indirect interest in water level and flood management in IDB districts.

Following substantial consultation and analysis, JBA Consulting submitted their report to Defra on 28 February 2006.

JBA Report

Accompanying Maps

  1. Geographical distribution of boards
  2. Board Administration
  3. Office Locations
  4. Annual Income
  5. Proportion Dependent on Pumping
  6. Boards with Priority SSSIs

(All the above documents are approximately 650kb in size and are in Adobe Acrobat PDF [PDF] format - see our Help link below for more information about this format.)

Internal Drainage Board Review Implementation Plan

Following detailed consideration by the IDB Review Project Board (comprising officials from Defra, ADA, Environment Agency and LGA), a detailed implementation plan has been drawn up for action. A number of individual IDBs as well as Natural England and RSPB have also contributed to the Project Board in a wider advisory capacity, and their input has been welcomed.

Ministers have approved the following package of documents to be sent to all IDBs and written to them as per the attached letter.

(All the above documents are in Adobe Acrobat PDF [PDF] format - see our Help link below for more information about this format.)

Page last modified: 01 June 2009
Page published: 14 March 2006

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs