- Asked by: Helen Eadie, MSP for Dunfermline East, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 April 2008
-
Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 14 May 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to ensure that the Scottish Environment Protection Agency is a statutory consultee for all planning applications for any development where there is any risk of flooding.
Answer
Since 1996 the Scottish Environment Protection Agency has been a statutory consultee if a proposed development is likely to materially increase the number of buildings at risk of being damaged by flooding.
- Asked by: Helen Eadie, MSP for Dunfermline East, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 April 2008
-
Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 14 May 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that climate change will be a material consideration in future planning decisions.
Answer
It is initially for the planning authority to decide whether a consideration is material in a particular case and ultimately it is a matter for the courts. Climate change is already capable of being a material consideration.
- Asked by: Helen Eadie, MSP for Dunfermline East, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 April 2008
-
Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 14 May 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to legislate to ensure that regional spatial strategies and local development documents include a strategic flood assessment as part of a sustainability appraisal.
Answer
Scottish Planning Policy (SPP) 7 Planning and Flooding says that the potential of land to flood should be considered during the preparation of every development plan and flood risk areas must be identified early in the plan preparation process. The plans are subject to the requirements for strategic environmental assessment. The recent consultation paper, The Future of Flood Risk Management in Scotland, included proposals for implementing the EU Floods Directive which will enhance the strategic approach to flood risk management.
- Asked by: Helen Eadie, MSP for Dunfermline East, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 April 2008
-
Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 14 May 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive on how many occasions since 1990 it has overturned local authorities’ decisions not to allow a development where there were sustained objections from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency.
Answer
This information is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Helen Eadie, MSP for Dunfermline East, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 April 2008
-
Current Status:
Answered by Michael Russell on 12 May 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what the annual cost is of damage as a consequence of coastal erosion across Scotland and how this compares with costs of damage arising from flooding.
Answer
This information is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Helen Eadie, MSP for Dunfermline East, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 April 2008
-
Current Status:
Answered by Michael Russell on 12 May 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it has taken to assess the risks associated with serious flooding across more than one local authority area, such as those adjacent to the River Forth, particularly in respect of determining insurance excesses, and whether it considers that levels of self insurance and reserves are adequate in the event of serious emergency.
Answer
The Scottish Government is working with the Association of British Insurers to ensure that affordable insurance remains widely available. However, terms will reflect the risk and are a matter for insurers.
Local authorities are expected to include a small amount within their annual budget to deal with unforeseen emergencies but self insurance and the levels of reserves are the sole responsibility of the individual local authorities concerned.
- Asked by: Helen Eadie, MSP for Dunfermline East, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 April 2008
-
Current Status:
Answered by Michael Russell on 12 May 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what consideration it has given to changing the categorisation of flooding risk to that based on future risk, given the background of climate change over the lifetime of developments that will last for many decades.
Answer
We have no plans to change the categorisation based on present risk, however the potential impacts of climate change on flood risk should be taken into account where appropriate. For planning purposes the approach to flood risk set out in Scottish Planning Policy 7 “ Planning and Flooding already includes an allowance for climate change.
- Asked by: Helen Eadie, MSP for Dunfermline East, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 April 2008
-
Current Status:
Answered by Michael Russell on 12 May 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what average cost per property is estimated for rebuilding properties designated as being at a high risk of flooding in the (a) Forth, (b) Tay and (c) Clyde estuaries.
Answer
The information requested is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Helen Eadie, MSP for Dunfermline East, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 April 2008
-
Current Status:
Answered by Michael Russell on 12 May 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it has taken to arrange for local authorities with little previous experience of flooding to learn from others that have been living with the risk for some time.
Answer
This is a matter for local authorities to consider. However local authorities, through COSLA working groups, exchange and share information on practice in flood management.
It is Scottish Government policy that every council should convene a flood liaison and advice group (FLAG) or combine with other councils to do so, possibly on a catchment basis. PAN 69 provides advice on the membership and potential topics for consideration by FLAGs as well as a case study of the Highland FLAG.
- Asked by: Helen Eadie, MSP for Dunfermline East, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 April 2008
-
Current Status:
Answered by Michael Russell on 12 May 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how many meetings it has held with the Association of British Insurers in the last five years to discuss flood risk areas in Scotland.
Answer
The Scottish Government has met with the Association of British Insurers (ABI) on some 40 occasions over the past five years in order to discuss flood risk in Scotland. The ABI were participating members of National Technical Advisory Group on Flooding 2002-04, and its successor group, Flooding Issues Advisory Committee 2004-06, and are members of the current Flooding Bill Advisory Group. In addition, discussions are currently ongoing with the ABI to revise and update its statement of principles, with particular reference to flood risk in Scotland.
