National Flood Resilience Strategy: Implementation Plan

Our Vision for a Flood Resilient Scotland

As Scotland’s National Flood Resilience Strategy laid out there can be no doubt about the impact flooding and climate change have on communities across Scotland. Flooding is Scotland’s biggest domestic climate adaptation challenge. The science is clear; climate change means we are facing record weather extremes that include increased risks of heavy rainfall, more intense storm events and flooding.

SEPA figures highlight that 1 in 8 properties in Scotland are now at risk of flooding. With over 400,000 homes at risk of flooding today and an estimated 634,000 at risk by the end of the century, working together to increase Scotland’s resilience has never been more important.

The Climate Change Committee (CCC)'s latest assessment of UK climate risk indicates that an average winter in future could resemble a particularly wet winter today. With advice from the CCC confirming the minimum planning scenario should be for global warming to pass +2 C by 2050. This will see the intensity of heavy bursts of rainfall throughout the year (not just in winter) up to 60% higher than in the 1990s, driving more risk of flash flooding and potential risks to life.

Scotland’s National Flood Resilience Strategy laid out a long-term vision and series of actions for a flood resilient Scotland – it recognised the role that evidence based nature based solutions, blue-green infrastructure, land use and community resilience play managing flood risk and makes clear that flood protection schemes are only one part of the picture when it comes to improving Scotland’s flood resilience.

Significant work has already taken place to lay the foundations of implementing that strategy. This implementation plan lays out the next steps over the next 4 years.

The core vision of the Flood Resilience Strategy is that:

People and Places are prepared for increased flooding. We are adapting to a changing climate, creating sustainable resilient places in ways that are inclusive and fair.

The strategy built on extensive engagement with communities across Scotland – with hundreds of attendees at 17 workshops and input from people, communities and organisations through an online consultation. This helped define the strategy’s guiding principles, -its key themes of People, Places and Processes, and priority areas for action.

The Flood Risk Management Act (2009) lays out clear roles and responsibilities to manage flood risk (Appendix B), including statutory obligations regarding the development of flood protection schemes as well as how local objections to flood protection schemes should be considered throughout decision making processes. People and communities must remain at the centre of all work we take forward to build a flood resilient Scotland.

The National Flood Resilience Strategy is part of the Scotland National Adaptation Plan and runs to 2045. Adaptation plans are developed on a five-year cycle. SNAP3 spans 2024 to 2029 and will be replaced by SNAP4 in 2029. This approach ensures the plan remains aligned with the latest evidence on climate risks, which is similarly refreshed every five years.

The strategy committed to develop this implementation plan with partners setting out initial actions and move towards its Vision the People, Places and Processes outcomes and the six priority action areas starting with the establishment of the Flood Advisory Service.