THE end is nigh for a Gwent drainage outfit damned by auditors after the environment minister ordered Natural Resources Wales to take it over in two years time.

Alun Davies, Minister for Natural Resources and Food and Blaenau Gwent AM, said moving the functions, assets and 21 staff members of the Caldicot and Wentlooge Levels Internal Drainage Board is a long-term solution to problems raised in damning reports from the Wales Audit Office and an Assembly committee.

The move, effectively abolishing the Gwent drainage board and two other boards that are partially in Wales, will take place in April 2015.

A year ago officials at the Wales Audit Office detailed a list of irregularities at the board, which overpaid its most senior member of staff, paid thousands for trips abroad for its members and occasionally acted unlawfully.

The Public Accounts Committee of the Assembly said last month that thousands of lives were at risk because of problems at the board – a fact disputed by drainage board general manager Richard Penn.

Mr Penn said there is “great disappointment” at the board to the decision.

He said that was “not least in view of the major improvements in the Board’s governance and operational management over the last two years and the overwhelming support for the continuation of the board that resulted from the consultation by Welsh Government that took place last year”.

He said the board will look to ensure that its assets, “particularly its staff”, will be properly protected as a result of the transfer of its functions.

It would also look for an assurance that new arrangements will not prejudice the “very effective flood protection and water level management that those who live and work on the Gwent Levels have enjoyed for many years.”

However Paul Flynn, Labour MP for Newport West, welcomed the decision.

“It was run as a private fiefdom for many years. They misused public money to the advantage of people that were running it,” he said, expressing disappointment that no one had been brought to justice over what happened at the board.

Mr Flynn added that the board couldn’t justify its existence anymore: “It is a set-up that is out of date and invites abuse.”

Natural resources minister Mr Davies said the plan will improve opportunities for “a more integrated approach to the management of natural resources in the Internal Drainage Districts, remove duplication of organisational arrangements and improve resilience and value for money.” “By bringing this expenditure within the framework for audit and accountability we established for Natural Resources Wales, we will secure a long term solution to the many issues raised in relation to Caldicot and Wentlooge Levels IDB by the Wales Audit Office and the Public Accounts Committee,” the minister added.

Both bodies had reported on the activity of the drainage board when it was under its previous clerk and chief engineer, Dean Jackson-Johns, before general manager Mr Penn took his post.