Flooding of River Laxey on 1st October 2019

Summary

A request was made to the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture for documents regarding land ownership, flood defense strategies, and repair works on the River Laxey following the 2015 and 2019 flooding events. The authority responded with some information but withheld parts of the request, citing exemptions and referring certain queries to other sections of the response.

Key Facts

• The request concerns the flooding of the River Laxey on 1st October 2019 and previous events in December 2015.
• The Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture (DEFA) is the responding authority.
• The request sought evidence of land ownership adjacent to a redundant weir near Laxey Woollen Mills.
• The request asked for correspondence and analyses regarding flood defense measures and maintenance duties.
• The outcome was classified as 'Some information sent but part exempt'.

Data Disclosed

• 1st October 2019
• December 2015
• 2019-12-23
• 2020-02-19
• 6th February
• 02/01/20
• 17/00471/B
• 6 pages
• 1 document

Exemptions Cited

• Part exempt

Original Request

A. Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture ("DEFA") ownership of land in the River Laxey Valley area. Please provide any documentary evidence regarding the ownership of the land adjacent to the section of the River Laxey where the redundant weir and resultant build-up of materials / dam was situated. A clearly marked map of this section of the river will suffice. For completeness, the redundant weir to which we refer is the one which Planning Application 17/00471/B applies to and which is situated at a section of the Laxey River just at the point of its branching to the west of the Laxey Woollen Mills. B. DEFA's contribution, consideration and/or implementation of flood defence measures following the flood of the River Laxey in December 2015 ("the 2015 Flooding Event"). Please provide any documentary information / analyses carried out by DEFA either alone or in conjunction with the relevant authorities, including but not limited to MU, from the date of the 2015 Flooding Event up to and including the date of this request, in relation to future preventative measures / strategies considered following the 2015 Flooding Event. C. DEFA's flood protection role. We understand that riparian landowners are under a duty to keep structures such as culverts, trash screens, weirs and mill gates, clear of debris as well as to discuss the maintenance of flood defences which may be vital for flood protection with Manx Utilities. Please provide copies of any documentary information to include correspondence over the last 3 years up to and including the date of this request with relevant authorities, including but not limited to MU, regarding the maintenance of flood defences specifically relating to the River Laxey. D. Repair works carried out on the River Laxey prior to the flood on 1 October 2019 ("the 2019 Flooding Event"). We understand that works were being carried out on the River Laxey prior to the 2019 Flooding Event, including but not limited to the creation of a salmon run and weir repairs ("the Works"). Please therefore provide (any / all): 1. Documentary information / analyses relating to the methodology and procedure in place for the Works. 2. Documentation in relation to the scope and outline design of the Works. 3. Documentation in relation to the method of accessing the River Laxey to enable the Works to be carried out. 4. Documentary evidence that identifies the party who was responsible for carrying out the Works. 5. Contractual documents between the parties responsible for overseeing I carrying out the Works. 6. Risk Assessments, method statements and plans considered and/or implemented in relation to the Works. E. Complaints received in relation to the River Laxey sluice gate / weir and subsequent build-up of materials. Please provide documentary evidence of all complaints that DEFA received over the last 3 years up to and including the date of this request, relating to the redundant weir and subsequent build-up of materials in the River Laxey. The weir to which we refer to is the one which Planning Application 17/00471/B applies to and which is situated at a section of the Laxey River just at the point of its branching to the west of the Laxey Woollen Mills. Please provide documentary evidence of any subsequent actions undertaken by DEFA either alone or in conjunction with other parties, or on its behalf, regarding actions taken to address the complaints.

Data Tables (4)

Full Response Text

Request B. DEFA's contribution, consideration and/or implementation of flood defence measures following the flood of the River Laxey in December 2015 ("the 2015 Flooding Event"). Please provide any documentary information / analyses carried out by DEFA either alone or in conjunction with the relevant authorities, including but not limited to MU, from the date of the 2015 Flooding Event up to and including the date of this request, in relation to future preventative measures / strategies considered following the 2015 Flooding Event. In your clarification email of the 6th February you state: In our amended request we have clarified the relevant time period (i.e. from the December 2015 flooding event through to the date of the request). We are of course unable to narrow the request to correspondence between specific people as we do not have knowledge of the relevant individuals. If it would assist, we could limit the request to the following categories identified by DEFA; • emails and letters between officers within the Department, • emails and letters between DEFA Fisheries and MU officers, • emails and letters between DEFA Forestry and MU officers, B. Response See response to D below. Request C. DEFA's flood protection role. We understand that riparian landowners are under a duty to keep structures such as culverts, trash screens, weirs and mill gates, clear of debris as well as to discuss the maintenance of flood defences which may be vital for flood protection with Manx Utilities. Please provide copies of any documentary information to include correspondence over the last 3 years up to and including the date of this request with relevant authorities, including but not limited to MU, regarding the maintenance of flood defences specifically relating to the River Laxey. In your clarification email of the 6th February you state: DEFA’s original response (02/01/20) suggested that this “may be a straightforward part of the request” and made no suggestion as to how we might be required to narrow it any further. The request is straightforward. If DEFA has carried out any works in relation to the maintenance of flood defences on the River Laxey in the past three years we would be grateful for details of the same. Again, we cannot limit the request to documents produced by specific individuals, however are happy to limit it to the following categories: • emails and letters between officers within the Department, • emails and letters between DEFA Fisheries and MU officers, • emails and letters between DEFA Forestry and MU officers, C. Response The Department does not hold or cannot, after taking reasonable steps to do so, find the information requested. DEFA has not carried out any works in

relation to the maintenance of flood defences in the Laxey River in the past three years. Further information on the flood defences generally around the Island, including Laxey, can be found here - https://www.gov.im/about-the- government/departments/environment-food-and-agriculture/environment- safety-and-health-directorate/national-strategy-on-sea-defences-flooding-and- coastal-erosion/ Request D. Repair works carried out on the River Laxey prior to the flood on 1 October 2019 ("the 2019 Flooding Event"). We understand that works were being carried out on the River Laxey prior to the 2019 Flooding Event, including but not limited to the creation of a salmon run and weir repairs ("the Works"). Please therefore provide (any / all): 1. Documentary information / analyses relating to the methodology and procedure in place for the Works. 2. Documentation in relation to the scope and outline design of the Works. 3. Documentation in relation to the method of accessing the River Laxey to enable the Works to be carried out. 4. Documentary evidence that identifies the party who was responsible for carrying out the Works. 5. Contractual documents between the parties responsible for overseeing I carrying out the Works. 6. Risk Assessments, method statements and plans considered and/or implemented in relation to the Works. In your clarification email of the 6th February you state: DEFA’s original response suggested that “This may be quite a straightforward part of your request to consider. It will however require consultation with Manx Utilities who supplied the information and this could increase the timeframe”. On that basis we trust that further narrowing of the request is not required as there was no suggestion of this at the time of the original response on 2 January 2020. We are happy to agree a reasonably extended timeframe for the response if necessary. D. Response While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the
information is exempt from release under section 35(c) of the Act. S.35 Conduct of public business In this case (and B above) the information is qualified exempt information as its disclosure would be likely otherwise [than s.35(a) and (b)] to prejudice the effective conduct of public business. Public interest test As s35 is a qualified exemption, it is subject to a public interest test. The public interest must be something that is of serious concern and benefit to the public at large. Factors in favour of disclosing the information include:

• General scrutiny of public business by the general public can lead to improvements in services and improved understanding of public business. • In this case many properties were severely damaged and those residents and owners need information in order to understand what happened and what may be done to prevent it happening again or to mitigate the effects. • The property residents and owners need information on the causes of the flooding to their properties in order that any insurance claims may be investigated and settled. • Disclosure may help correct any misunderstandings or dis-information currently in the public consciousness. Factors in favour of maintaining the exemption include: • An independent, review is in progress. It’s Terms of Reference (ToR) state “The Cabinet Office, on behalf of the Chief Minister, will require strict confidentiality to be maintained on all aspects of this project.” To release information outside of the review, when the review itself is bound by confidentiality, would be likely to damage the trust of the review body in the IOM Government and ultimately the outcomes and success of the review. • Future publication It is the intention of the independent review to provide its report to the Cabinet Office in mid-March. Subsequent to that the report may be published although it is not yet clear what extra information may be published alongside it. While we are not withholding information specifically for this reason, as we don’t know exactly what information may be published, to effectively publish some of the information at this time would not be conducive to the effective and independent consideration of the information by the review body. In assessing the weight to be attributed to each of the factors in favour of disclosing the information and maintaining the exemption, the Department has taken the following into consideration: • Disclosure at this time would not further the public interest which is currently best served by allowing the independent review to run its course in a confidential environment. • The situation is recent and overall consideration of its causes and future mitigation measures is not yet concluded. Prejudice The purpose of this exemption is to protect the “safe space” in which governments must sometimes operate to ensure that matters are given comprehensive consideration. The release of selective information at this time would be likely to prejudice the outcomes of the current independent review (commissioned by the Chief Minister through the Cabinet Office) by enabling a third party to examine some of the information that is available to the review and to draw conclusions that may then be used for purposes which would harm the purpose of the independent review, which has access to all of the information.

In taking all of these factors into account the Department has determined that the factors in favour of maintaining the exemption outweigh the factors in favour of disclosing the information. Request E. Complaints received in relation to the River Laxey sluice gate / weir and subsequent build-up of materials. Please provide documentary evidence of all complaints that DEFA received over the last 3 years up to and including the date of this request, relating to the redundant weir and subsequent build-up of materials in the River Laxey. The weir to which we refer to is the one which Planning Application 17/00471/B applies to and which is situated at a section of the Laxey River just at the point of its branching to the west of the Laxey Woollen Mills. Please provide documentary evidence of any subsequent actions undertaken by DEFA either alone or in conjunction with other parties, or on its behalf, regarding actions taken to address the complaints."

In your clarification email of the 6th February you state: DEFA’s original response suggests that “Consideration of response to this section of your request depends upon precisely which sluice gate/weir you are interested in”. We apologise for any confusion in this regard and can confirm that the sluice gate we are interested in is that which is referred to in the highlighted section of the attached meeting minutes of the Garff Parish District Commissioners from a meeting on 02/10/19 (which we assume to be the sluice gate in lower Laxey shown on local media which can be accessed here.) E. Response While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Department does not hold or cannot, after taking reasonable steps to do so, find the information requested. No complaints have been rceived. Advice and assistance and substantial compilation For future reference guidance on making an FoI request can be found here https://www.gov.im/about-the-government/freedom-of-information/how-to-make-a- freedom-of-information-request/#accordion This specifically states “Aim for one question per request. Asking for lots of different information within one request can make it difficult to understand what you are really requesting.” Please quote the reference number 1114293 in any future communications.

Your right to request a review

If you are unhappy with this response to your freedom of information request, you may ask us to carry out an internal review of the response, by completing a complaint form and submitting it electronically or by delivery/post.

An electronic version of our complaint form can be found by going to our website at https://services.gov.im/freedom-of-information/Review . If you would like a paper version of our complaint form to be sent to you by post, please contact me and I will be happy to arrange for this. Your review request should explain why you are