Summary templates of projects likely to have the potential to contribute to the Scottish Government’s knowledge of the role of land management in flood management measures

Summary templates of projects likely to have the potential to contribute to the Scottish Government’s knowledge of the role of land management in flood management measures
FRM15ii
May 2010

Introduction

It is important to the Scottish Government that, within the Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009, the guidance to Responsible Authorities on working with natural features and characteristics is evidence based. As part of that process, they have asked SNIFFER to commission this report to identify and examine empirical projects in the UK and the Irish Republic likely to produce hydrometric data or information. This trawl was to include an examination of all projects involving river restoration, wetland restoration, habitat enhancement and such like to reveal any flood risk/hazard reduction component. An assessment based on information entered on to a template provided by the Steering Group would allow research gaps to be revealed. Plans would be made for projects to be implemented or supported to fill those gaps. The full specification of the project is in Appendix I.

The study was divided originally into 5 tasks as follows:

Task 1: to announce the start of the project at the SNIFFER Flood Risk Management Conference, 11th February 2010, Edinburgh. The presentation is to include a request for information on projects that could contribute to the aims of FRM15ii.
Task 2: to identify all sites/projects, in recent years, in Scotland, the rest of the UK and Ireland where NFM measures/land use management practices/river restoration have been or are being trialled or monitored for flood risk management purposes. Also identify any new projects scheduled to start in the next 2 years.
Task 3: to gather information for each of the sites/projects identified and complete a template (provided) for each. As well as basic information on the flooding issues in the area, catchment details, data capture, types of measures the contractor is also asked to review the opportunities to assess other environmental benefits (e.g. water quality; biodiversity and ecology; soil management; sustainable forest management) at the site. An assessment of the issues/drawbacks of each project is also required.
Task 4: consider the relevance of the evidence being collected at each site to Scotland’s circumstances and how it might feed into a research strategy for Scotland.
Task 5: prepare a summary table of the data collected to assist the steering group toidentify the measures (and in what circumstances/environments) we know enough about and those that where we must improve our understanding.

Changes to the original specification
It became apparent during Task 2 and in the early stages of Task 3 that, as a result of the
identification of hundreds of projects requiring assessment, the author would require
guidance from the Steering Group as to how they wished to manage this situation within
the existing resource constraints (see note below). The guidance received from the Steering Group was for the author to examine the information in the templates (and any other projects that he may be aware of but not yet on templates) from projects in Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and the north of England. Then the modified task was to advise on which ongoing/past/phased or planned projects would be likely to show a lowering of flood hazard, supportable by evidence. The Government would use this information to consider how these projects might help improve understanding of working with natural features and characteristics for flood risk management purposes.

Following discussions with the steering group this report now identifies which projects are likely to show a lowering of flood hazard/ risk, from examination of a modified list of templates of ongoing / past / phased and planned projects. On that basis, the author has made recommendations about which projects have potential to improve our understanding and evidence base for taking a more natural approach to flood risk management.

Note: The information on hundreds of potential projects was compiled into a working format but not assessed. The resulting list was placed in abeyance. A decision on its further development will be made in the future by the Scottish Government and SEPA.

Copies of this report are available from the Foundation, in electronic format on CDRom at £20.00 + VAT or hard copy at £35.00, less 20% to FWR members.
N.B. The report is available for download from the SNIFFER Website