This document contains AR21 annual returns for the British Association of Journalists as submitted to the Certification Officer.

A 200 tonne tidal gate has arrived in Suffolk, ready to be installed at Ipswich’s new flood barrier.

The delivery of the gate from its manufacturing site in Rotterdam, Holland, is a significant step towards the completion of the Environment Agency’s £70 million project.

The work was carried out by Hollandia, a sub-contractor for Environment Agency contractor VBA – a joint venture between VolkerStevin, Boskalis Westminster and Atkins.

It took 2 years to design and build the gate and 24 hours for it to be transported across the North Sea, finally passing under the Orwell Bridge and entering Ipswich early on the morning of Friday 27 October.

The gate is 22 metres wide and will stand 9 metres tall when in its “closed position”. It is finished with 5 tonnes of special paint that will help protect it, as it spends most of its life under water.

Special crane will be used to install 200 tonne gate

The gate is currently on a barge in the Port of Ipswich, while a crane big enough to lift it into place is delivered to site and constructed.

The 1,000 tonne crane will be assembled on the construction site on the middle island of the Port of Ipswich.

Once the crane is complete, the gate will be installed into the barrier structure in the upright position, which is its “maintenance position”.

The main hydraulic rams and control systems can then be installed and there will be a testing period of a further 8 weeks.

Andrew Usborne, Project Manager, said:

This is a key milestone for the project and sees the final elements of the barrier arriving on site.

The construction of the crane will take several days, and this is a very busy period for what has been a long-running project.

It’s another step closer to significantly improving the flood protection for Ipswich.

The Ipswich Flood Defence Management Strategy (IFDMS) will increase the standard of protection to 0.33% (greater than 1 in 200) and takes into account current climate change predictions. The 0.33% relates to the probability of a combined fluvial and tidal flood event happening in any one year.

The final element of the scheme involves building a tidal barrier across the New Cut River in Ipswich, with associated works to tie it into the new east and west bank walls and gates. The barrier is expected to be operational in the spring of 2018.

The flood defence scheme, which will reduce the risk of flooding to 1,608 homes and 422 businesses and support key infrastructure, has been partnership funded by: the Environment Agency, Ipswich Borough Council, Department for Communities and Local Government, the Haven Gateway Partnership, and the New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership.

The Environment Secretary, Michael Gove, has made a Written Ministerial Statement in parliament announcing that Defra and the Environment Agency (EA) will be undertaking a review of multi-agency flood plans produced by local resilience forums (LRFs).

These plans are used by local responders (including the emergency services, local authorities, local NHS and others) to coordinate their response to flood incidents.

The MAFP Review is part of the government’s ongoing work to address flood risk. We are investing £2.5 billion to better protect the country from flooding: this includes over 1,500 flood defence schemes, which will better protect more than 300,000 properties by 2021. As we approach winter, we have improved our capability to deploy military assistance and invested in our ability to respond to flooding: the Environment Agency now has 25 miles of temporary barriers and we have 1,200 military troops trained to assist in flood response.

Terms of Reference – Multi-Agency Flood Plan (MAFP) Review

The MAFP Review is a Defra and Environment Agency review initiated by the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

The review will be led and overseen by an independent external reviewer, Major General Tim Cross CBE (retired). General Cross will be supported by a steering group of external experts in resilience and emergency planning, including from LRFs.

The review will address the question, ‘Do LRFs have robust plans in place to respond to flooding incidents in their respective areas?’ It will have three workstreams:

• Workstream 1: Assessment of current MAFPs. This will be taken forward by the EA. It will involve the assessment of around 30 strategic flood plans and over 600 tactical flood plans related to specific districts and communities.

• Workstream 2: A qualitative review led by the external reviewer, supported by Defra and the EA. This will involve visiting LRFs, identifying good practice, identifying issues and obstacles, and forming views and recommendations on the way forward including criteria for new guidance.

• Workstream 3: Revision of Defra guidance to LRFs on how to produce good MAFPs, taking into account lessons learnt and experience since 2011 when the guidance was last reviewed. This will be undertaken by Defra and the EA, overseen by the external reviewer.

The review is due to be completed by the end of May 2018, culminating in the publication of revised guidance and a report of findings.

The external reviewer will be supported throughout by Defra and Environment Agency staff. It is envisaged that the external reviewer’s focus would be primarily on workstreams 2 and 3.

The visitors, from all across the UK and overseas, enjoyed a day of exhibitions and informal networking at the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) Estate Supply Chain Event.

Businesses came to Manchester’s EventCity venue to be involved in one of the world’s largest nuclear decommissioning supplier events, with delegates turning up from all across the UK and overseas.

The NDA and its business units set up the first event 7 years ago with the aim of creating greater visibility of opportunities for suppliers and in particular for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). The event has gone from strength-to-strength and has become a highlight of the nuclear industry calendar, with around half the visitors coming from the SME community.

The day was formally opened by NDA Chief Executive David Peattie, who spoke about the importance of suppliers in providing skills and innovation for the decommissioning mission.

The main hall held 300 exhibition stands, staffed by a wide range of technical and service suppliers, alongside information stands representing the NDA and all its business units, government bodies and regeneration organisations.

The ever-popular ‘Innovation Zone’, supported by the government’s Innovate UK, hosted more than 40 exhibitor companies, who held demonstrations of leading-edge technologies during the afternoon.

The Skills Zone also returned for 2017, featuring a range of organisations who were able to offer guidance, advice and one-to-one discussions.

Other government departments attending included:

• The Ministry of Defence’s Submarine Enterprise Programme
• Department for International Trade
• the Crown Commercial Service
• the Welsh Government

Ron Gorham, the NDA’s Head of Supply Chain Optimisation and SME Champion, said:

We have a challenging mission for decades to come which relies on vibrant, dynamic businesses providing solutions to our many challenges. Success across our estate and also the MOD’s Submarine Enterprise Programme is good not only for the UK, local and national economies, but also provides fulfilling careers for a whole new generation.

We remain committed to working with the supply chain, from the largest to the smallest players, to improve not only the quality of the opportunities but also help ensure successful outcomes for all.

Informal feedback during the day suggests that yesterday’s event was the most successful so far. It provides a unique opportunity to hear leading figures from across our sector, see world-beating technology and enjoy an unrivalled opportunity for networking with other businesses suppliers and clients.

The event remains a key element of our Supply Chain Development programme and the SME action plan both of which show NDA’s continued commitment to encourage, support and develop our supply chain for today and for the future.

One of the morning highlights was the presentation of NDA estate awards.

More images on the NDA’s Flickr account

The UK will host a pavilion in the Bonn Zone of COP. Through our programme of talks, events and presentations we aim to showcase the UK’s role in tackling climate change, sharing innovations that will drive the future of the Paris Agreement. We hope that sharing our experiences and expertise can be useful for other countries in taking forward action on their climate commitments, and are keen to explore areas for collaboration in the future.

Our programme will cover a broad range of topics across the climate and clean growth agenda, UK renewable energy, green finance, climate policy (including the Clean Growth Strategy), transport and more.

The UK is playing a leading role in the low carbon transition both nationally and internationally. We were the first country to legislate to reduce carbon emissions with the 2008 Climate Change Act, and have been among the most successful countries in the developed world in growing our economy while reducing emissions. Since 1990, the UK has cut emissions by 42 per cent while our economy has grown by 67%. Our recently launched Clean Growth Strategy builds on this, bringing together for the first time over £2.5 billion of Government funding for low carbon innovation from 2015 to 2021.

Please come and join us at COP 23 in Bonn.

The programme of the pavilion can be viewed below for week 1 and week 2.

Programme – UK Pavilion at COP 23
(PDF, 491KB, 11 pages)