[ Draft Flood and Water Management Bill ]

"The drought in South East England in 2004-06 and the nationwide floods of Summer 2007 brought home to us what climate change means. We need to be better prepared in the future for both flood and droughts, and ensure that we manage our water resources sustainably."

Draft Flood and Water Management Bill, April 2009

What does this mean for you and your business?

Our policy team has been working hard over the past few weeks evaluating the proposed changes detailed within the Draft Flood and Water Management Bill.
We have summarised the key points below, and also added a few sections examining the potential impacts to specific market sectors…

Summary

• The Draft Flood Bill aims to implement a more comprehensive and risk-based approach for managing the risk of flooding and coastal erosion, which for the first time embraces all sources of flooding.
  Ambiental Flood Risk Modelling: Surface water flooding features prominently in the Draft Flood and Water Management Bill (Copyright © Ambiental 2009).
  

• The existing legislation is deemed to be inappropriate because: “The law does not provide the flexibility to adopt a broader range of approaches necessary to manage flood and coastal erosion risk in the face of current challenges, including the impacts of climate change. An approach of building ever higher and stronger defences is not sustainable.”

• The Bill is focussed on improving the management of water quality and resources, and response to severe weather events such as flood and drought which are set to become more frequent as a result of climate change.

• It is further explained that, in the past, focus has been to take steps to prevent flooding, however more recently, measures addressing the consequences of flooding are also being adopted.

• The Bill also seeks to ensure that those managing the risk of flood or coastal erosion will take account of other concerns such as sustainability, biodiversity and the whole water cycle.

• It is stated that a better understanding of surface water and groundwater flood risk will need to be developed, given that current modelling techniques and conventional technologies are not designed to consider the complexities of these types of flooding.

• There will be reforms to the way in which flood and coastal risk activity is funded; reforms to Internal Drainage Boards; and the means for resolving neighbourhood disputes over flooding issues.

• The EA will be handed a strategic overview role in relation to all sources of flooding – that is fluvial (main river and ordinary watercourse), tidal, surface run-off and groundwater, as well as coastal erosion and flood risk from reservoirs.

• The Draft Bill contains provisions to implement some of the recommendations from the Pitt Review to improve the management of local flood risk. Local authorities will have a leadership role for local flood risk management which includes ensuring that flood risk from all sources, (including surface run-off, groundwater and ordinary watercourses) is identified and managed as part of locally agreed work programmes.

• The Bill re-iterates key conclusions from the Pitt report, including that the effects of climate change may be more significant than had previously been estimated. In particular: (i) the potential increases in rainfall volume, intensity and river flows are greater; and (ii) there is a greater risk to people, property and society from future sea level rise.

• Impacts to Utilities Companies
• Impacts to the Insurance Industry
• Impacts to the Land and Property Sector
• Impacts to Central Government and Local Authorities
• Impacts to the General Public

Need to find out more about the Draft Bill or flood risk issues in general? Contact us now for a free consultation on +44(0)1273 704 441 or to obtain your personalised summary review of the Draft Flood and Water Management Bill.