Correspondence from the Local Government Association

The Flood Risk Regulations 2009 initially made up part of the Draft Flood and Water Management Bill which went out to consultation over the spring of 2009.

 In the LGA's response to the consultation we welcomed the draft Bill and its intention to give local authorities the lead role in flood risk management. However we expressed concern that the new responsibilities and burdens councils would have to undertake as a result of the legislation would need to be funded by DEFRA.

 The Flood Risk Regulations 2009, which are being considered now as secondary legislation, require lead local flood authorities to, amongst other things, prepare preliminary flood assessment reports, identify flood risk areas, prepare flood hazard and risk maps and prepare flood risk management plans in relation to each flood risk area.

 Local authorities are ready and willing to take the lead on flood risk management in their local areas. We believe though that the cost of the lead role generally has been underestimated by DEFRA and projected 'savings' from better flood risk management are not actual savings but possible future cost avoidance. The LGA has asked for a much clearer evidence base for the presumed cost savings for local authorities in managing local flood risk. We are pleased that DEFRA has commissioned new research on costs and benefits but we would have wanted to see this analysis undertaken before the Regulations were submitted as Secondary Legislation.

November 2009
 

Further information from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Q1. Paragraph 4.3 of the EM. How do you intend to achieve this consolidation?

A1. We propose to prepare a consolidation Bill following standardisation of the various Acts which the Flood and Water Management Bill relates to, using proposed powers to make pre-consolidation amendments. We do not yet have any definite timeframe for this but hope to do it once we have put in place the secondary legislation which standardises this legislation.

Q2. Will these Regulations be undermined if the Flood and Water Management Bill doesn't receive Royal Assent before the end of the session?

A2. No. The Regulations are designed to be stand alone.

Q3. Are the Local Authorities content with the roles they have been assigned by these Regulations?

A3. We have consulted both CLG and LGA both of whom raised no concerns other to ensure that any new burdens are funded. The Flood Risk Regulations 2009 are unlikely to place significant additional burdens on local authorities as they will be able to rely on information gathered for strategic flood risk assessments and surface water management plans to meet most of its provisions. We will, however, review the process for meeting Floods Directive requirements after the first cycle to determine whether in practice any additional work was undertaken.

Q4. How will the new requirements be funded?

A4. For the Environment Agency, any additional Floods Directive costs will be met from future Grant In Aid from Defra.

However, the Directive includes transitional provisions that allow Member States to present existing flood risk assessments, where equivalent to the requirements of the Directive, instead of carrying out new ones. The EA is therefore unlikely to need to carry out significant additional work for the Directive, but it will primarily be a matter of co-ordinating and reporting on existing assessments.

For local authorities Defra is committed to fully funding new burdens, and will keep the situation under review.

No additional burdens have been identified for the Floods Directive but this will be kept under review as implementation takes place. If it becomes clear that local authorities have incurred additional costs in fulfilling their responsibilities under the EU Floods Directive, Defra will provide the extra funds in full.

Funding levels for the current financial year and next year have already been announced. Funding from 2011/12 will be determined as part of the next Government spending review. For further details please refer to the funding fact sheet (link below).

http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/flooding/documents/policy/fwmb/factsheet-la-funding.pdf

November 2009