The Severn Trent Regional Flood Defence Committee, which covers the Midlands Region of the Environment Agency, comprises a Chair and seven members appointed by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; two members appointed by the Environment Agency; and 11 members appointed by county and unitary councils in the area of the Committee.
I have received no recent representations about membership of the Committee. In making appointments to the Committee my right hon. Friend has regard more to the experience and skills of prospective members than their geographical location. However, one of the DEFRA appointed members does live in Shropshire. Also, we recently advertised a number of DEFRA member vacancies in the Shropshire Star newspaper.
With regard to council appointees, the Committee’s area encompasses 32 local authorities and clearly not all can be represented individually if we are to keep the Committee to a manageable size. We have therefore made provision for membership to be shared between some councils; one seat is shared between Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin and Worcestershire.
The arrangement for sharing of seats was based on advice from the Committee themselves on the best strategic alliances and representation based on population and properties at risk from flooding. Within those groupings, councils will agree between themselves who should provide the Committee member at any one time and clearly we would expect that person to ensure that they properly represent issues of concern to the other councils.