Despite a growing public eco-consciousness, the unrelenting effects of climate change have seen flooding become a regular threat to communities across the country.
The destruction embedded in all our memories from last year’s Summer
flooding has shown existing legislation to be out of step with the ever-changing landscape of
flood risk management.
As a result, the Scottish Government has initiated new efforts to
reduce flooding, and has introduced a new Flooding Bill to improve the efficiency and speed of the
flood prevention process and bring flood alleviation legislation into the 21st century.
Whilst the
legislation is undoubtedly a step in the right direction, authorities outside Scotland will be watching the approval and hopeful implementation to determine if the proposed structure could have wider merit.
There is no question that the proposals put forward in the current Scottish Flooding Bill provide a clear and robust structure for flood risk management in
Scotland. The central tenet of the proposals – the appointment of the
Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) as a single competent authority – is essential in safeguarding the continuity necessary to assess and deliver sustainable solutions. Local authorities are then called upon to implement the proposed schemes.
The bill treads a good balance between ensuring consistency of assessment at a national level and autonomy of delivery at a local level. Local authorities hold a great deal of local flood risk knowledge and are the natural point of representation for flood-affected residents. Ensuring they retain a prominent role represents a huge improvement on systems south of Scotland where local authorities are just one of a list of statutory consultees.
In as much as the role of the central body needs to be supported by controlled devolution to local authorities, however, so too is it vital to ensure that
SEPA is afforded the power and influence it needs in practice to see through real change. A central body will only be effective if its roles and responsibilities are clear, it is adequately resourced and has the practical powers to ensure adherence to national programmes and procedures. Local authorities will be relied upon to support, rather than undermine, that mandate.
Currently in England, the Environment Agency is tasked with the responsibility of protecting the five million people, in two million properties, who live in
flood risk areas.
The agency not only determines the areas in which flooding may occur and proposes the schemes that would protect those communities, it is also tasked with the responsibility of implementing the approved schemes. This centralised effort allows the agency to take a holistic view of the problem and determine which actions, in which areas, would make the most impact to the largest population.
However, this high level view often overlooks the needs of the individual communities that will be impacted by the schemes. The agency must spend time lobbying for local approval of the completed scheme, instead of including the community’s input from the beginning. This expends
valuable resources that could be better spent on the schemes themselves.
By combining the flood prevention order and planning application procedures, the Scottish Flood Bill ensures the introduction of new flood alleviation schemes is a quicker, more efficient and joined up process for all involved.
However, care needs to be taken to ensure the parallel introduction of a central body does not in itself create unnecessary bureaucracy. Experience shows that focus on delivery outcomes can be lost whilst too much attention is paid to trying to reach the appropriate balance – resulting in valuable resources being diverted into studies rather than implementing solutions.
Despite the ever present dual challenges of reducing bureaucracy and balancing local and national interests, the
Scottish Flooding Bill will shorten the timescales for the introduction of flood alleviation schemes whilst bringing Scotland into line with the EC Floods Directive. Where it, perhaps inevitably, stops short is in presenting a blueprint for making that improved efficiency a reality.
Whilst the onus is firmly on SEPA and local authorities in terms of delivery expectation, both will need the support of wider stakeholders and the expertise of a dwindling community of flood specialists to actually take these flood management plans forward. With a collective commitment to keep the dialogue open and the talent pool refreshed, there is no reason why this new bill shouldn’t prove effective in stemming the tide of not only local flood risk, but the concerns of the country at large.