Paul Burrows Email & Phone Number

March, England, United Kingdom

The Middle Level Commissioners have been proudly managing water levels in the Fens since 1862. We are a public authority who provide flood resilience, navigation, land drainage and environmental services for local communities. Our infrastructure provides circa £11 billion of benefits to the local economy. I lead a committed team of circa 40 employees who deliver annual revenue programmes of expenditure of approx £5m, a growing capital programme of approx £200m and also respond to the extremes of weather. We also provide a range of professional consultancy services to over thirty other local Internal Drainage Boards. I am driving a programme of change to help us evolve our customer service, organisational profile, operations and infrastructure to respond to the challenges posed by the climate and nature crisis in a financially responsible manner.

Patient advocate on the steering group of a year long research project led by Medical iSight.

I bring leadership and assurance to the 40-50% of the £5.2 billion flood investment portfolio that is forecast to be delivered by Local Authorities, Internal Drainage Boards, Highways Authorities and Water Companies.

Through my leadership within the Great Ouse Fens, I influenced a specific commitment to Fens to feature within the National Flood & Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategy. I created this role to develop the delivery plan. I collaborated with Anglian Water and Water Resources East to set up the innovative Future Fens: Integrated Adaptation which was showcased at COP26 in Glasgow. I also informed the initial gateway stage of Anglian Water’s Fenland reservoir proposal, encouraging a wider infrastructure and environmental vision beyond public water supply.

Huntingdon

Providing local environmental leadership within our East Anglia Area, focussing on the catchment of the River Great Ouse including parts of The Wash, Fens and North Norfolk coast. I led a large department of diverse and committed staff across a wider range of flood and incident management disciplines.The Great Ouse catchment has the unique challenges of having a rich history of flood and drainage management infrastructure, coupled with being one of the fastest growing parts of the country.

Peterborough, United Kingdom

Working nationally for the FCRM Directorate shaping the future structures and ways of working for our allocation, asset management and programming work.

Peterborough, United Kingdom

I was responsible for the management and assurance of flood & coastal erosion risk capital and revenue programmes within the Anglian Region of the Environment Agency (circa £100m and 30% of national capital expenditure, delivering some great outcomes for the public purse). A key part of my role was being the key account holder for three Regional Flood & Coastal Committees (RFCCs) and holding a portfolio nationally to ensure the governance and our support to these important local independent bodies is optimised.Whilst I managed a small focussed team to deliver the above, I worked mainly with Exec Managers and Peer Managers (locally, nationally and in other parts of the country) to maximise the delivery of outcomes for communities and to adopt a continuous improvement approach to FCERM programming.

Peterborough, United Kingdom

I worked in a 'troubleshooting' management role within Flood & Coastal Risk Management in Anglian Region. I worked directly for our executive manager and leadership team on a range of projects and tasks that are broadly about introducing new activities into the region, exploring better ways of working and continuous improvements.This has included the early adoption of Streamlining work (looking to reduce the pre construction costs of our programme); implementation of the Floods & Water Management Act and associated legislation; and preparation for the recent National Audit Office review.I also was lead for the implementation of the flood risk organisational change within the region. This comprised implementing structural reform and introduction of ways of working changes that impact over 500 staff.

Peterborough, United Kingdom

This was a national role and involved being the link between ncpms and our National Review Group (NRG) who recommended approval for projects over £2m and all flood and coastal risk strategic assessments. In this role I had to ensure the timely submission of business cases to the correct quality standards. I was also a member of NRG with my function predominantly about picking up good practice and feeding back to teams to continue the cycle of improvement.

Peterborough, United Kingdom

As Quality Manager I worked across our Anglian and Thames Regions in a project assurance role. I worked with internal managers, project teams and suppliers to improve the adoption of project assurance procedures. At this time the Environment Agency also took on the responsibilities from Defra for issuing grant to Local Authorities and IDBs. We took on the role to help support them with their submissions for grant. I helped develop our internal process of managing these important responsibilities and worked directly with authorities to guide them.

Huntingdon

Huntingdon

Kettering, Northants

Peterborough, England, United Kingdom

I was privileged to be part of the innovative TV program ‘Your Body Uncovered with Kate Garraway’ produced by Remarkable TV for the BBC. I featured alongside my wife in the series finale that was aired on primetime BBC2 on 6th April 2022.The filming process was fascinating to be part of and a real learning experience. It further enhanced my media and communications capabilities, building on my experiences in my flood manager role at the Environment Agency.

Rothwell, Northants

Bsc, Geography With German, 2:2

The combined nature of my degree afforded me the unique opportunity to undertake work experience at the Stäätliches Amt für die.

Education record