Annex 1
6.0 PITT
REVIEW - WORKING
WITH NATURAL
PROCESSES AND
LAND MANAGEMENT
MEASURES
6.1 Pitt found a widespread acceptance in
the FCERM community that, in the face of climate change, flood
risk cannot continue to be managed by simply building ever-bigger
hard defences. The Review agreed that a range of softer approaches,
such as flood storage and land management, can offer more sustainable
ways of managing the risk, and can complement and extend the lifetime
of more traditional defences (Pitt Review paragraph 7.101). The
update commissioned by Pitt to the Foresight Future Flooding
report noted: "There is no single response to solve all
problems. Our conclusion remains that a portfolio of structural
and non-structural responses, implemented in a sustainable way,
is needed to manage future flood risk." (7.102)
6.2 Pitt acknowledged (7.104) that, in addition
to the use of land management and local storage, there is potential
for the increased use of floodplain storage in rural areas to
reduce the transmission of flows downstream (7.109) and for other
techniques such as restoring the natural functioning of rivers.
Pitt also accepted (7.105) that these measures often offered wider
benefits than flood risk mitigation alone, such as amenity or
biodiversity gain.
6.3 Pitt concluded that rural land management
approaches should be considered as part of the portfolio of measures
to deal with flood risk and, where appropriate, as part of the
programme to deliver more working with natural processes (7.128).
Specifically, appropriate land management changes should be considered
as part of any Surface Water Management Plan and associated flood
risk assessments (7.129).
6.4 Pitt Review Recommendation 27 proposed
that Defra, the Environment Agency and Natural England should
work with partners to establish a programme through Catchment
Flood Management Plans and Shoreline Management Plans to achieve
greater working with natural processes. A joint working group
has been established to undertake this task and is due to publish
its recommendations in December 2009. Early indications are that
these are likely to focus on areas such as funding mechanisms,
project design and development, technical guidance and training.
6.5 Natural England believes that it will
be important for a new Flood and Water Management Act to reflect
explicitly the aspirations of Pitt and lay the foundations for
a flood risk management framework that seeks solutions that are
sustainable, adaptive to climate change and, where appropriate,
work with natural processes.
7.0 THE FLOODS
DIRECTIVE[25]59
7.1 In many respects, the Floods Directive
anticipated Pitt's aspiration for a flood risk management approach
working with natural processes and land management.
7.2 Article 4(2)(d) states that the Preliminary
Flood Risk Assessment required by the Directive should assess
the potential adverse consequences of future floods "...
taking into account as far as possible issues such as the topography,
the position of watercourses and their general hydrological and
geomorphological characteristics, including floodplains as natural
retention areas... "
7.3 Article 7(2) makes clear that, in establishing
objectives for flood risk management plans, there should be a
focus on "the reduction of potential adverse consequences
of flooding... and, if considered appropriate, on non-structural
initiatives and/or on the reduction of the likelihood of flooding."
7.4 Moreover, flood risk management plans
under Article 7(3) "shall take into account relevant aspects
such as costs and benefits, flood extent and flood conveyance
routes and areas which have the potential to retain flood water,
such as natural floodplains, the environmental objectives of Article
4 of Directive 2000/60/EC, soil and water management, spatial
planning, land use, nature conservation, navigation and port infrastructure."
7.5 Article 7(3) states that flood risk
management plans "may also include the promotion of sustainable
land use practices, improvement of water retention as well as
the controlled flooding of certain areas in the case of a flood
event."
7.6 The Floods Directive makes clear that
flood risk assessment and flood risk plans should take account
of elements such as floodplain natural water retention areas,
non-structural initiatives, soil and water management and the
promotion of sustainable land-use practices. It is a clear intention
of the Directive that an assessment of the potential of such approaches
should be at the heart of Member States' management of flood risk.
8. FLOOD RISK
MANAGEMENT (SCOTLAND)
BILL[26]60
8.1 The draft text being considered for
the Scottish Flood Risk Management Bill reflects these elements
of the Floods Directive and the aspirations of Pitt on natural
processes. Moreover, as presently worded, its provisions are founded
on a core duty to deliver sustainable flood risk management.
8.2 The opening General Duty section places
an explicit duty on Scottish Ministers, the Scottish Environment
Protection Agency and responsible authorities, in exercising their
flood risk-related functions, to "act in the way best calculated
to manage flood risk in a sustainable way" or to "promote
sustainable flood risk management" (the current Stage-Two
draft contains alternative wording).
8.3 In translating the Directive's Article
4 requirements for an assessment of flood risk, Section 16 of
the draft Scottish Bill places a duty on SEPA to assess by 2013 whether
"alteration (including enhancement) or restoration of natural
features and characteristics of any river basin or coastal area
in a flood risk management district could contribute to the management
of flood risk for the district."
8.4 The Scottish Bill makes clear that natural
features and characteristics include those "which can assist
in the retention of flood water, whether on a permanent or temporary
basis, (such as flood plains, woodlands and wetlands) or in slowing
the flow of such water (such as woodlands and other vegetation),
those which contribute to the transporting and depositing of sediment,
and the shape of rivers and coastal areas."
8.5 This amounts to a duty to assess the
potential for, in Pitt's terms, greater working with natural processes.
8.6 This duty to seek to work with natural
processes where appropriate is developed in Section 23 of
the Scottish Bill on the preparation of flood risk management
plans. In setting flood risk management objectives and delivery
measures, SEPA is required to consider the assessment of the potential
contribution of the alteration (including enhancement) and restoration
of natural features and characteristics of a river basin or coastal
area. It must then identify measures which it considers are the
most sustainable. Where measures identified as the most sustainable
are different to those considered under the assessment of the
alteration or restoration of natural features, SEPA is required
to give reasons for selecting such alternative measures.
8.7 Section 24 contains an additional
requirement to consider, so far as is appropriate, both structural
and non-structural measures as means of achieving objectives.
9. GOVERNMENT
POLICY ON
FCERM
9.1 It should be noted that Government policy
has, for some time, embraced sustainable flood risk management
and working with natural processes. Making Space for Water[27]61
heralded the Government decision to embrace sustainable and risk-based
flood management. It stated that the aim for flood and coastal
erosion risk management should be "to manage risks by employing
an integrated portfolio of approaches which reflect both national
and local priorities, so as to:
— Reduce the threat to people and their
property; and
— Deliver the greatest environmental, social
and economic benefit, consistent with the Government's sustainable
development principles."
9.2 It also stressed the requirement that
"adaptability to climate change through robust and resilient
solutions should become an integral part of all flood and coastal
erosion management decisions."
9.3 Following on from Making Space for
Water, Defra's recent draft Policy Statement On Appraisal
for Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management[28]62
reiterated the commitment to sustainability, stating: "Sustainable
flood and coastal erosion risk management appraisal should be
based on … adopting a broad portfolio of structural
and non-structural solutions that are resilient to changing risks
and where possible work with or re-establish natural processes
including the use of adaptive approaches."
25 59Directive 2007/60/EC on the Assessment and Management
of Flood Risks. Back
26
60http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/s3/bills/15-FloodRisk/index.htm Back
27
61Defra (2005). Making Space for Water-Taking forward a
new Government strategy for flood and coastal erosion risk management
in England. First Government response to the autumn 2004 Making
space for water consultation exercise. Back
28
62Defra (2008). Consultation on Defra policy statement on appraisal
for flood and coastal erosion risk management. Back
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