Urgent Call for Rutland Towns and Parishes to Finalise Flood Preparedness Plans
Following an exceptionally warm summer in 2026, local leaders are warning that Rutland’s towns and parishes must act now to prepare for the heightened risk of severe winter and spring weather and the increased surface water flooding that often follows.
Each year, the Environment Agency conducts regional briefing sessions stressing the importance of local Emergency Response Plans. Yet despite ongoing guidance and support, several towns and parishes across the county still do not have formal flood response strategies in place.
Cllr Ramsay Ross, Rutland County Councillor for Oakham North West and Leader of the Labour Group, is urging both local councils and residents to take proactive steps before extreme weather hits.
"To prepare for this eventuality, we need our towns and parishes across Rutland to have in place an Emergency Response that addresses the issue of flooding in their area. The information to do this is readily available," says Cllr Ross.
Establishing a local plan does not require councils to start from scratch.
The UK Government provides a comprehensive Community Emergency Plan Toolkit, while the county’s Local Resilience Forum working alongside the Environment Agency, emergency services, and local authorities offers direct assistance to help parishes tailor a Flood Response Plan to their specific needs.
In addition, Rutland County Council has already hosted dedicated sessions to guide town and parish councils through the setup process and provides access to detailed flood-risk mapping. This data pinpoints the areas most vulnerable to surface water and river flooding, allowing local responders to focus their efforts where they are needed most.
A cornerstone of any successful local response is the Flood Warden community volunteers who act as the eyes and ears on the ground during severe weather, helping to monitor water levels, report blockages, and support vulnerable neighbours.
While Rutland County Council has worked to equip local councils with the tools to establish these networks, take-up across the county remains patchy. Oakham Town Council has so far ignored repeated requests to establish a plan.
Cllr Ross is calling on Rutland residents to help close the preparedness gap by taking three simple steps:
Check your local council's status, visit your Town or Parish Council website to see if a Community Emergency or Flood Response Plan is published.
Raise the issue, if no plan exists, contact your parish or town councillors and ask for flood preparedness to be placed on the next meeting agenda.
Volunteer as a Flood Warden, consider stepping forward to serve as a local warden to help protect your immediate neighbourhood.
"There is no reason why your town or parish should be unprepared," Cllr Ross adds. With winter weather approaching, ensuring every community in Rutland has a clear, actionable plan could make all the difference when heavy rains arrive.
Oakham Town Council Chairman Responds to Flood Preparedness Concerns
In response to recent calls from Rutland County Councillor Ramsay Ross urging towns and parishes to establish formal Flood Response Plans ahead of severe winter weather, Cllr Martin Brookes, Chairman of Oakham Town Council, has outlined the operational pressures currently facing the town council while sharing his own frustrations over local emergency preparedness.
Responding in a personal capacity, Cllr Brookes acknowledged that Cllr Ross has raised the issue multiple times and offered a candid look at the administrative challenges behind the scenes.
According to Cllr Brookes, Oakham Town Council is currently working through a heavy administrative workload without a permanent Clerk in place.
"Currently, our Locum Clerk is working through a substantial backlog of tasks," Cllr Brookes explained. "Alongside this, several councillors are personally volunteering their time unpaid to handle essential duties such as contract renewals, which would normally be managed by a permanent Clerk. Because of this, the council has a significant number of outstanding matters to resolve."
While Cllr Ross highlighted the availability of government toolkits and Rutland County Council's flood-mapping support, Cllr Brookes noted that his own past efforts to push emergency planning forward at the town level have met resistance and pointed back to past shortcomings at the county level.
"As Chairman, I do not have the unilateral authority to compel the council to take specific actions," he said. "On the broader topic of emergency preparedness, I have consistently urged the council over many years to put measures in place to support residents in the event of any incident, though the prevailing response has often been that this falls under the remit of Rutland County Council which is, of course, unacceptable, and some may remember the desk exercise RCC took part some years ago regarding flooding and failed."
To move the issue forward formally within Oakham Town Council's current constraints, Cllr Brookes advised Cllr Ross contact the Locum Clerk to add a proposal directly to a meeting agenda.
"To ensure your concern is formally addressed, may I suggest that you contact the Locum Clerk directly to request that this item be added to our next meeting agenda?" Cllr Brookes added. "It would be very helpful if you could include clear details on what specific action you are asking the council to take. That is the best I can offer."
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