Current status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 14 June 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what strategy it has developed to consider coastal defences.
The Scottish Government recognises the impacts of climate change on coastal communities and the need to consider coastal defences.
Our Dynamic Coast 2 project, published in 2021, helps local authorities and other stakeholders identify where the greatest risks are from coastal erosion this decade and into the future. The 2020 Programme for Government committed £12 million to local authorities, over four years, for coastal change adaptation to allow them to plan for, and protect communities from, the impacts of coastal erosion and sea level rise. We published Guidance in 2023, to support local authorities in the preparation of Coastal Change Adaptation Plans,which includes using nature based solutions as part of coastal protection.
Improving resilience to flooding is a priority for the Scottish Government and we continue to work with, and support, local authorities to fulfil their obligations to reduce the impact of flooding from all sources including coastal. To support flood protection measures, the Scottish Government provides £42 million each year to local authorities. In August 2020, the Programme for Government also committed an additional £150 million over 5 years to support flood risk management actions.
The Scottish Government is currently consulting on a Flood Resilience Strategy for Scotland which will lay out what we need to do in the long term to make our places more flood resilient, including at our coasts.