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Flooding discussion

1. SEPA's roles and responsibilities

1.1. SEPA has three primary Roles and Responsibilities for Flooding which are set out in the Flood Risk Management Act and the Civil Contingencies Act. Those are:

• SEPA is Scotland’s strategic Flood Risk Management Authority.
• SEPA is a statutory consultee to Local Authority planning applications where flooding is a risk.
• SEPA provides Scotland’s Flood Forecasting and Warning service.

1.2. As Scotland’s Flood Risk Management Authority SEPA is required to provide an update to the flood risk across Scotland on a six yearly cyclical basis. For this work, Scotland is divided into fourteen Strategic Flood Risk Regions and SEPA develops a Regional Flood Risk Management Plan for each region. SEPA’s Flood maps provide the basis for risk identification across the fourteen regions. Within the plans SEPA identifies mitigating actions with a considerable proportion being allocated to Local Authorities who have the primary responsibility for mitigating flood risk across Scotland.

1.3. As Scotland’s Strategic Consultee on Flooding SEPA provides expert advice to Local Authority planning applications where LAs identify flooding as a concern. SEPA’s engagement here is reactive to requests from planning authorities in each Local Authority. This year the team is on track to respond to circa. 1700 planning applications that relate to flooding. This is 150% of the volume of planning responses SEPA delivered in 2023-2024. The primary driver for this increase is the Scottish Government’s new National Planning Framework 4, which includes a new policy, Policy 22, that provides a particular focus on Flooding. SEPA’s flood maps is one of the primary tools which flooding experts use to as the basis for their advice.

1.4. SEPA’s Flood Forecasting and Warning Service is delivered through two primary products:

Forecasts are issued to notify of potential Flood events days ahead of their potential occurrence. Our Forecasts are issued by 11am every day and this deliverable is one of the key KPIs we report upon. Forecasts cover a broad geographic region, typically a Local Authority area. Forecasts that are issued in two forms:

1. To the public via the Scottish Flood Forecast which is a rolling three day forecast that is published every day on the SEPA website, and
2. To the responder community via the Flood Guidance Statement which is a rolling five day forecast that is circulated every day to delivery partners.

Our Forecasts are delivered through the Scottish Flood Forecasting Service in partnership with the Met Office. We rely upon the Met Office to provide rainfall forecasts and weather advice every day.

Flood warnings advise that flooding is imminent, within hours, and that immediate action is required i.e., take measures to protect yourself and your property. Our warnings are communicated to two key stakeholder groups via dedicated channels:

1. To the public, and
2. To responders and delivery partners.

For the public, our warnings are available via the SEPA website.

1.5. Members of the public can sign up to our Floodline Service. It provides live flooding information and advice on how to prepare for, or cope with, the impacts of flooding 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. By registering with Floodline members of the public can receive free flood messages for their area of interest direct to their phone. These can be received by either text message, phone call or email.

1.6. SEPA’s roles and responsibilities contrasts to those of the Environment Agency England, where the EA has all the same responsibilities as SEPA, but the key point of difference is that the EA is also responsible for the design, development, operating and maintenance of Flood Defences. SEPA is not. In Scotland Local Authorities hold this responsibility i.e., for developing, operating and deploying flood protection.

2. Preparations for the 2024-2025 peak flooding season

2.1 Preparing for flood seasons is a routine procedure that the SEPA Flooding team conduct every year. It comprises of routine, Business-as-Usual activities, and activities that transform and improve the service.

2.2 The focus of the Service preparation for 2024 - 2025 spans a broad range of key operational areas:

Duty Rota resources – because the service is 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, there is a dependency upon our people to work on a rota basis. Every day 13 SEPA staff are on duty to deliver this service with others on standby in case of emergency. This year we have bolstered our duty roster by inducting and training new SEPA colleagues into key roles.

Manuals and exercising – the team have updated various Flood Warning Manuals and Duty Officer Manuals based upon updated procedures and from lessons learned in previous flood events. Those have been communicated, trained, and exercised to embed the learning.

Systems – our Flood Forecast and Warning Service relies heavily upon complex, integrated data, and systems. The team continue to collaborate with colleagues in IS to maintain the stability of various flood warning systems. New transformative developments have also been progressed.

Data and Hydrometric Network – our Flooding forecasts and warning is dependent upon accurate and reliable data which we automatically gather from over 700 sites across Scotland. We have progressed an upgrade programme across our hydrometric sites to increase resilience, including expanding the coverage of satellite loggers which reduced the reliance on the mobile network for key Flood Warning sites during flood events.

Modelling and Forecasting – modelling is the foundational skill that our maps, forecasts, planning advice and warnings rely upon. Our models are delivered by a small group of expert hydrological modellers – they are a scarce resource in the UK. This year work has been undertaken with the Met Office to apply a surge correction to our coastal model following under predictions in early 2024. This worked well during Storm Ashley in early October.

Partnerships, training, and communication – the effectiveness of our work is dependent upon the strength of our partnerships and the communication of key information. In preparation for this year, we have:

• Contributed to refreshed materials on SG Ready Scotland (flooding) Preparing for rain and flood disruption.
• Pre-winter digital engagement campaign month (October) on flooding undertaken with Water Safety Scotland.
• Flood Warning Service Level Agreements shared with all Local Authority partners.
• Joint training undertaken with multiple local authorities.
• Training of Police Emergency Planning Advisers on 13 November.

SEPA Flood Project - through the SEPA Flood project, the comms and marketing team are investing in fresh assets and a strategic approach to our flooding communications which will enable campaigns and proactive messaging supported by video, advice and graphic assets underpinned by a programme of user led research that will allow us to track awareness, brand recognition and engagement.

3. Recommendations

3.1 The Board is asked to note our roles and responsibilities.

3.2 The Board is asked to note our preparedness for the peak 2024 - 2025 flooding season.