🔥Evidence of Co-operation? Or, Collusion?💧
The 'Forgotten' Flood Report North Lincolnshire Council Didn’t Want You to Remember
In 2019, North Lincolnshire Council published a damning flood report — and barely told anyone about it. Six years later, its warnings echo louder than ever, especially in Crowle. Here's why it matters now more than ever.
🔥Buried in Plain Sight
In November 2019, North Lincolnshire experienced severe rainfall, leading to flooding across the region. Properties in Crowle, Eastoft, and other communities were affected. In response, North Lincolnshire Council, as the Lead Local Flood Authority (LLFA), was legally obligated under the Flood and Water Management Act to produce a Section 19 flood investigation report.
They did.
But hardly anyone knew about it.
This detailed document outlines the causes, responses, and forward-looking strategies to tackle localised flooding. And yet, unless you were directly impacted or went digging through obscure PDF archives, chances are you never saw it. That’s not just odd – it's damning.
🔥Co-operation — or Collusion?
The report makes repeated reference to the “collaborative” relationship between North Lincolnshire Council and other Risk Management Authorities (RMAs), including:
Severn Trent Water
The Environment Agency
The Isle of Axholme Drainage Board
What it fails to disclose is the conflict of interest this creates when elected councillors – like Cllr Julie Reed and Cllr Ralph Bint – sit on both NLC and the very same drainage board!
"North Lincolnshire Council hold regular operational flood liaison meetings with Risk Management Authorities."
Were minutes published? Were residents informed? Or was it all conducted behind closed doors?
💧 So… About That “Mystery Drain”?
In recent weeks, we’ve been following the trail of a now-infamous watercourse in Crowle — one that appears on:
Ordnance Survey maps
Land Registry title plans
Internal Drainage Board maps
North Lincolnshire Council’s own Planning Maps
And yet… despite its presence across official documentation, it appears to have been overlooked or omitted from the Council’s Significant Drainage Asset Register — a key dataset referenced in their 2019 Flood Report, which claims:
“We do hold a lot of the data currently within our published significant drainage asset register.”
So why the inconsistency?
Why the omission from one register but not another?
Why, when this drain was clearly visible — and even included in screenshots sent (via email) by a resident to Severn Trent Water back in October 2022 — has it been so persistently side-lined in official conversations?
Could it be that this watercourse wasn’t just inconvenient — but politically or administratively embarrassing?
💧 Poor Riparian Maintenance = Your Fault?
In the 2019 Flood Report, North Lincolnshire Council and its Risk Management Authorities (RMAs) are quick to highlight the role of private landowners in failing to maintain watercourses — citing “poor riparian maintenance” as a key factor in localised flooding.
“It is apparent that many of the individual flooding events… were either encouraged or exacerbated by poor riparian maintenance.”
But here's the paradox:
Back in 2022, Severn Trent claimed in writing that they were unaware of the now-infamous drain in Crowle. A Crowle resident, after making enquiries about he drain with the Council, the Land Registry and the Drainage Board, provided them with explicit evidence, including screengrabs from official maps showing the drain — they never acknowledged it.
A year later, they went on to obtain a covenant for the field — and then purchased part of it outright. The portion acquired already had a Land Registry Title Plan showing the watercourse. That drain has since vanished — at least administratively — conveniently sidestepping scrutiny, planning requirements, and any potential breach of development protocols.
Meanwhile, they claim exemption under the Town and Country Planning Act, citing permitted development rights.
So let’s get this straight:
The landowner (STW) failed to acknowledge the drain’s existence when first informed.
They later acquired land where the drain was clearly marked.
The drain now no longer appears on the radar of the Significant Drainage Asset Register.
And yet… the Council insists that we, the public, are to blame for poor drainage maintenance?
Sounds like the rules apply one way for public authorities — and another for the rest of us.
🔥We Had the Tools. We Still Didn’t Fix It.
The report makes one thing crystal clear: the resources were insufficient then, and they likely still are now.
"Unfortunately, this number [of pumps and tankers] is far from capable of delivering an efficient emergency service."
And:
"Flooding events rely on reactive resource deployment... there will always be limitations to response."
So what has changed? If anything, the Council now seems more preoccupied with managing reputation risk than flood risk.
So What Now?
This report, now nearly six years old, reveals a startling level of institutional dysfunction, lack of transparency, and potential conflicts of interest.
Why weren’t residents alerted to this?
Why is key information about drains and flood mitigation still being withheld?
Why are EIR and FOI requests being ignored, delayed, or diverted?
And finally:
"North Lincolnshire continues to be a place where people want to live, work, visit and invest."
That’s the vision of the Local Plan. But without transparency, accountability, and community engagement, it rings hollow:
🙈See no drain
🙉 Hear no complaints
🙊 Speak no answers
It’s North Lincolnshire Council’s Three Wise Monkeys Act!
This is why the petition exists. This is why the blog exists. And this is why you should keep reading, keep sharing, and keep asking questions.
Because sometimes, it’s the things they don’t tell you that matter the most.
💬 Enjoyed this post? Want more on the North Lincs / Crowle Town Council and Severn Trent Water saga?
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👉 If you feel strongly about the issues raised in this article, then consider sending an e-mail to Crowle Town Council (clerk@crowleandealandcouncil.org) or North Lincolnshire Council (customerservice@northlincs.gov.uk) or even Councillor Julie Reed, (Cllr.juliereed@northlincs.gov.uk), and ask them why are residents being silenced?