In Scotland responsibility for flood prevention is shared between four main bodies:
- Scottish Executive - has responsibility for national policy on flood prevention and provides grants to Local Authorities for constructing flood prevention schemes.
- Scottish Environment Protection Agency, SEPA- has responsibility for the dissemination of flood warnings, providing flood risk and flood mitigation information through Floodline, assisting Local Authorities by providing flood risk information, and advising on the preparation of flood defences.
- Local Authorities - are responsible for planning control, bringing forward and constructing flood prevention schemes, assesment and maintenance of watercourses, and co-ordination of authorities when there is a flooding event. They are required by the Flood Prevention and Land Drainage (Scotland) Act 1997 to publish flood prevention reports every two years.
- Landowners - have primary responsibility for protecting their land from flooding, including overland flooding caused by the build up of water on land following heavy rainfall or by a high water table causing ponding of standing water in low lying areas. Such flooding is not directly related to flow in watercourses and is the responsibility of the land owner concerned.
Overland Flooding
Overland flooding is caused by the build up of water on land following heavy rainfall or by a high water table causing ponding of standing water in low lying areas. Such flooding is not directly related to flow in watercourses and is the responsibility of the land owner concerned.
Sewer Flooding
Sewer flooding, though not the most common form of flooding, can cause serious problems in built up areas. The expected increase in flood risk as a result of climate change will increase the potential for sewers to overflow unless action is taken. The Executive will seek to reduce the risk of sewer flooding by continuing to encourage the use of sustainable urban drainage systems (SuDS) and working with Scottish Water to ensure that such systems are properly maintained. Scottish Water will invest significant sums in investigating sewer flooding and in resolving sewer flooding problems. As with other types of flooding, the risk is impossible to eliminate but it is vital that it is minimised and managed to safeguard people, their properties and their livelihoods.
The Ad-Hoc Committee of Ministers for Flooding Issues
In August 2002 extreme flood events, particularly in Glasgow, raised the public awareness of flooding. This led to the establishment of an ad-hoc Committee of Ministers, chaired by the deputy First Minister, to discuss a response. The two main outputs of this Committee were to introduce the National Flooding Framework Action Plan and a Statement of Commitments to reduce the risk of flooding