Roles and responsibilities
The Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009 was enacted on June 16, 2009. Information on the Roles and Responsibilities will be updated here in due course.
Scottish GovernmentThe Scottish Government is responsible for:
- National Policy and Guidance on Flood Prevention and Flood Warning.
- Provision of resources to enable authorities to address flood prevention and mitigation.
- The Town and Country Planning System, national planning policy and advice on flooding.
- Planning applications where flooding is an issue which come before the Scottish Ministers.
Further information can be found on the Scottish Government website.
Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA)SEPA's duties under The Environment Act 1995 include:
- Discretionary powers for the provision of Flood Warning for Scotland.
- Operation of formal flood warning schemes in partnership with the Local Authorities and the Police.
- Operation of Floodline including provision of 24 hour Floodwatch cover for all of Scotland by monitoring of data from river levels, rainfall, tide predictions and weather forecasts.
- Advice to Local Authorities on flood risk for planning purposes.
- Advice to Local Authorities on flood prevention.
- Provision of information in response to public queries on flood risk areas and properties.
Further information can be found on SEPA's website.
Scottish Local Authorities (Planning authority / Road authority)Responsibilities under SPP7:
- Establishment of Flood Liaison Appraisal Groups to provide practical guidance and information on flood risk and its implications for development to the Local Authority.
Responsibilities under Flood Prevention and Land Drainage (Scotland) Act 1997
- Assessment of watercourses in non agricultural areas for conditions likely to pose a flood risk.
- Maintenance of watercourses.
- Production of biennial reports.
Other responsibilities in respect of flood risk management:
- Responsible for planning control.
- Provision and maintenance of flood prevention and defence schemes under the 1961 and 1997 Acts.
- Work with the Police, Fire and Rescue services in response to severe flooding.
- Ensure road gullies are operational.
- Deal with road closures (except trunk roads).
- Coordination of reception centres for people evacuated from their homes and arrange temporary accommodation if appropriate.
- Coordination of the aftermath of floods.
Scottish WaterResponsibilities under the Water Industry (Scotland) Act 2002 & Sewerage (Scotland) Act 1968 include:
- Management of the discharge of surface water that enters their drainage systems.
- Working in partnership with the local authority and emergency services to alleviate any flooding of foul sewers and the impact of this flooding.
- Maintaining water supply and drainage infrastructure.
- Repairing flood damaged mains and deal with any flooding caused by bursts.
- Managing the storage and release of flood water supply reservoirs.
- Liaison with SEPA, local authorities and the emergency services during a flood event.
Scottish Advisory & Implementation Forum for Flooding (SAIFF)
The Scottish Advisory and Implementation Forum on Flooding (SAIFF) was established to support the implementation of the Act and the development of accompanying legislation and policies. SAIFF comprises representatives from the government, government agencies, local authorities and other stakeholders and aims to:
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Support implementation of the Act by advising the government on the preparation of a coordinated suite of subordinate legislation and government policies;
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Provide a basis for coordinated/partnership working between all parties involved in the implementation of the Act;
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Support implementation of the Act through the preparation of agreed technical guidance and procedures that will be commonly adopted by all relevant parties.
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Ensure clear opportunities for ongoing stakeholder engagement.
Three core working groups will initially take forward the work of SAIFF:
The work of the groups will be overseen by a control board chaired by the Scottish Government with membership from organisations responsible for managing flood risk in Scotland, including SEPA, local authorities, Scottish Water and Cosla.
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