In October 2002 an Ad Hoc Committee of Ministers, chaired by the Deputy First Minister, was set up to consider the arrangements for addressing flood risk and how advice and support is provided to those at risk from, and affected by, flooding. In February 2003 Cabinet agreed a Statement of Commitments and an action plan in the form of the National Flooding Framework.
The National Flooding Framework aims to address the problems of flooding through four areas of action: Awareness, Avoidance, Alleviation, and Assistance. The Ad Hoc Committee also recommended that a National Technical Advisory Group on Flooding Issues (NTAG) be set up to provide technical advice to local authorities and other parties on flood prevention schemes.
Section 2(4) of the Water Environment and Water Services (Scotland) Act 2003, states that Scottish Ministers, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and other stakeholders should co-operate and work together in an integrated fashion. With this in mind, NTAG invited the Scottish Executive, local authorities, Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), Scottish Water, Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), the Association of British Insurers, Industry, Environmental NGOs, Academia, the Environment Agency and the Department for Environment food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) to:
- Offer advice to the Executive on producing technical guidance for local authorities to take forward flood prevention schemes
- Offer advice to the Executive on a definition of sustainable flood management
Offer advice on the production of a Second Generation Flood Map and
Provide a forum for expert discussion on the impacts of climate change on flooding, the links between flood prevention schemes and planning and the social impacts of flooding
NTAG set up three sub-groups to take this work forward:
The Work of the Groups
NTAG Main Committee Members met six times between December 2003 and September 2004 and the agendas and minutes of these meetings are available for consultation.
Details of the Sub-Groups' meetings are contained in the following pages:
NTAG received regular progress reports from each of the Sub-Groups and numerous NTAG Papers were produced for members to consider and discuss. The NTAG Final Report has been published which details the work that NTAG completed and their recommendations.
At the joint SEPA/Scottish Executive Conference on 30 September to 1 October 2004, Philip Wright (Head of Climate Change and Air) - Chair of NTAG, gave delegates a presentation on NTAG's work and future. The work of NTAG has been carried forward by the Flooding Issues Advisory Committee.