Funding for local authority for flooding projects: EIR release

Information requested

The current, confirmed or planned prioritisation of funding for local authority flooding projects. You also asked for the project names and allocated funding together with details of projects currently unfunded.

As the information you have requested is 'environmental information' for the purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs), we are required to deal with your request under those Regulations. We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA.

This exemption is subject to the 'public interest test'. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes. This is essentially a technical point and has no material effect on the outcome of your request.

Response

Flood Risk Management Plans for the period 2016-2022 were approved by Scottish Ministers and published by SEPA in December 2015. These set out proposals for a number of flood risk management projects including 42 flood protection schemes which were prioritised according to their cost benefit ratio and taking into account a series of additional criteria, encompassing the environmental and social impacts of flooding.

The Scottish Government committed to funding 40 of the schemes subject to the caveat that these remained viable projects. In July 2021 COSLA recommended to Scottish Ministers that the flood protection schemes prioritised in the first cycle which were not yet “legally committed” were paused and that a review of projects was undertaken to examine the status of each project and carry out an assessment of whether the project is still suitable to proceed. Legally committed was defined as confirmed through the statutory process set out in the Flood Risk Management Act. Ministers accepted this recommendation and COSLA undertook a review of those projects to assess their status and affordability. 6 schemes remain paused and the SG/COSLA working group is now investigating ways to progress with the paused schemes and proposed schemes put forward for cycle 2.

Information you requested, in relation to the 28 prioritised Schemes that are still in progress, is available from the Scottish Parliament website: https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/questionsand- answers/question?ref=S6W-12674. Under regulation 6(1)(b) of the EIRs, we do not have to give you information which is already publicly available and easily accessible to you in another form or format. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website(s) listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

A note of the Schemes that have been completed is given below.

		Scheme Initial Cost (£ million)	Estimated Final Cost (£ million)
Greenock Cove	No longer required.	0.4	0.025
Huntly	Completed	4.9	3.8
Newmill	Completed	1.9	1.8
Dundee	Completed	6.2	6.9
Kirkwall	Completed	1.8	1.8
White Cart Water Phase	Completed	4.9	7.2
Camlachie Burn	Completed	1.2	1.7
Smithton and Culloden	Completed	15.2	13.0
Bouvrie Burn	Completed	0.4	0.4
Drumnadroicht	Completed	3.4	5.7
New Cumnock Phase 1 Complete Phase 2 Under construction	Completed	3.3	3.8
Broughty Ferry	Completed	10	16.3

The Water of Leith Flood Protection Scheme and the Broxburn Liggat Syke Flood Protection Scheme were also on the prioritised list of schemes set in the 14 Flood Risk Management Strategies published in December 2015. However, these schemes had previously received funding and were not eligible for any new funding under the criteria agreed between the Scottish Government and COSLA.

Revised Flood Risk Management Plans for the period 2022-2028 were approved by Scottish Ministers in December 2021 and published by SEPA in January 2022. These set out the objectives for the period 2022-28. No decisions have yet been made about funding for new actions set out in the revised Plans. Ministerial decisions will be informed by the recommendations of the joint-SG/COSLA working group that is currently considering these issues.

A copy of the 2022-2028 Flood Risk Management Plans which contain the list of proposed actions can be found on SEPA's website at Flood Risk Management Plans | SEPA

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.