Storm Babet: Review to probe Nottinghamshire County Council's response to flooding

Flooding in Retford in Nottinghamshire, after Storm Babet battered the UK, which caused widespread flooding and high winds

An investigation will look into how Nottinghamshire County Council responded when hundreds were hit by flooding.

Opposition politicians claim more than 900 homes across the county were flooded during Storm Babet in October.

The review, the Independent Alliance opposition group say, will look at the council's gully cleaning programme.

Nottinghamshire County Council said it remained "committed" to protecting communities from flooding.

Eastwood councillor Kane Oliver said he welcomed the decision, and added: "This council, as lead flood authority needs to be more proactive than reactive.

"We have gullies in Eastwood that have not been touched for a decade.

"This made the situation far worse than it would have been.

"We were evacuating elderly ladies from the Coach Drive Estate in Eastwood as over [five feet] of water swept homes.

"I welcome the fact that the Conservatives who run Nottinghamshire County Council will now investigate their part in the worse floods for a generation."

Nottinghamshire County Council says it has a legal duty to report on flooding incidents

The Independent Alliance also said at least 65 different locations had been impacted by flooding, with major incidents reported in Retford, Sutton Junction, Hucknall, Eastwood, Edwinstowe, Lambley, Newark among other areas.

A highways manager at Nottinghamshire County Council said: "Road drains across Nottinghamshire are cleaned on a regular cycle.

"We take a smart, data-led approach to ensure that those drains prone to collecting high levels of silt or debris are cleaned on the most regular basis of all.

"Storm Babet caused an exceptional amount of rainfall in Nottinghamshire, with some watercourses reaching record levels.

"In those circumstances, the excessive volume of water can have nowhere to go, so even where the drains are clean and unobstructed, flooding can unfortunately still occur."

'Proactive measures'

Councillor Neil Clarke, cabinet member for the environment at the council, added the investigation would look at "all aspects" of flood preparation and response caused by Storm Babet.

"A small minority of councillors use events like this to draw attention to themselves," Mr Clarke said.

"But the majority of us will attend the relevant meetings and get on with the real work of studying the response to Storm Babet across Nottinghamshire, to identify what further proactive measures we can take to deal with such events in the future."