Chamber and committees

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) has published indicative maps showing land at risk of flooding, where the risk is judged to be 0.5% or greater probability of being flooded in any given year at http://www.sepa.org.uk/flooding/mapping/index.htm.

Under proposals in the forthcoming Flooding bill, SEPA will map areas at significant risk of flooding taking into account all sources of flooding such as fluvial, coastal, pluvial and sewer flooding.

The responsibility for insuring homes against flood damage rests with the owners and tenants. The Scottish Government can in certain circumstances also offer financial support under the Bellwin Scheme to a council or councils incurring eligible costs in dealing with a large scale emergency. This includes those incurred in safeguarding life and property, and preventing suffering or severe inconvenience in a local authority''s area or among its inhabitants. Requests for further financial assistance for public bodies faced with a material unexpected financial burden in dealing with such an incident would be considered on a case-by-case basis.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) provides advice to the public on flood risk as part of its Floodline campaign, which is available online at:

http://www.sepa.org.uk/publications/leaflets/flood/index.htm.

The publications on this website have been distributed to businesses and homes in flood risk areas through a variety of outlets including the SEPA mobile exhibition trailer, local libraries, community centres, post offices and leisure centres, as well as targeted distribution by mail. A business specific publication is being developed for the 2008 campaign.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency has published online guidance on flooding available to the public at http://www.sepa.org.uk/flooding/index.htm. Local authorities produce flood-specific information relevant to their local area at their discretion.

Contingency planning is primarily a matter for local responders, as defined under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004, to whom the Scottish Government will provide appropriate support.

After the flooding in parts of England during the summer of 2007, the Minister for Environment wrote out to each of the eight regional Strategic Co-ordinating Group (SCG) asking for confirmation that they were adequately prepared to respond to similar events, should they occur in Scotland. All SCGs indicated they had assessed the flooding risk in their area, and had undertaken planning for such eventualities.

In January 2008, a further self-evaluation was commissioned by the Scottish Government from SCGs in relation to their planning for a wider set of extreme weather events that might arise as a result of climate change, including coastal and inland flooding. Responses are currently being collated and evaluated by the Scottish Government.

In addition, an exercise built around an extreme weather scenario is planned for the first quarter of 2009, and is designed to evaluate responders capabilities to deal with resulting challenges.

The Scottish Government has requested the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) to extend its current flood warning service by the introduction of an active flood warning dissemination programme, similar to the system which has been in operation for a number of years in England and Wales through the Environment Agency. This will introduce a service where registered members of the public and partner organisations will be contacted directly via a range of media. SEPA has furthermore been given by the Scottish Government £1.046 million over a three year period to provide a three hour minimum lead time to deliver flood warning to the catchment of the Rivers Dee, Don, Deveron and North Esk in North East Scotland.

The Scottish Government has also consulted on proposals to establish a new framework for the implementation of sustainable flood risk management in Scotland, and will be introducing a flooding Bill later this year. It has also just announced the opening of the Scotland Rural Development Programme which includes support for a number of natural flood management measures, and is working with the National Flood Forum to establish a presence in Scotland. The forum will work with SEPA to engage with communities to raise awareness of flooding.

The Scottish Government has published its research reports on Climate Change: Flooding Occurrences Review (2002), available at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/156664/0042098.pdf.

Climate Change: Review of Levels of Protection Offered by Flood Prevention Schemes UKCIP02 update (2003) at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2004/02/18789/32059.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency indicative flood maps show land which is at high risk of coastal flooding (where risk is equal to or greater than 0.5% annual probability) or might become so with climate change. These maps are available at:

http://www.sepa.org.uk/flooding/mapping/index.htm.

The Scottish Government is providing £200,000 to Western Isles Council for research in the hydrodynamics of the South Ford area in South Uist, and in addition is supporting Angus Council with £70,000 to consider intervention strategies seeking to slow the rate of erosion at Montrose Beach. This research will help in the understanding of coastal processes and assist in developing longer term and strategic approaches to coastal flooding and erosion in Scotland.

Coast protection schemes have been carried out at the following sites in the last five years:

Site	Starting Year of Scheme	Finishing Year of Scheme	Cost £
Carnoustie	2003	2004	1,047,028.00
Wick	2004	2005	2,931,951.83
Stonehaven Bay	2006	2006	322,759.46
Aberdeen Bay	2006	2006	2,257,525.53