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NESFLAG

North East Scotland Flood Liaison and Advice Group(NESFLAG)

Flooding can have significant impacts on the residents of the North East. Loss of life is, thankfully, very rare but the financial cost can be great, in terms of the costs to the local authority to cope with flooding events, to individuals in terms of damage to property and possessions, and to the wider community through increased insurance premiums.

Responsibility for flooding issues in the North East is shared between a number of different organisations. These bodies come together in NESFLAG to share knowledge and understanding of flooding issues, to ensure a co-ordinated approach to the prevention of flooding and to share information and experience from a wide range of disciplines.

What is NESFLAG?

The North East Scotland Flood Liaison and Advice Group is a partnership which comes together to discuss and share experience in relation to flood prediction, prevention and mitigation, whether by rivers, drains or the sea. It covers the geographical areas of both Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire, with representatives from relevant bodies such as SEPA, and the insurance industry. Adjoining authorities (Moray, Highland and Angus) and experts are also invited. Particular issues are dealt with through the use of sub-groups

Purpose of NESFLAG

The purpose of NESFLAG is to provide an informal forum for consultation and discussion with a view to recommending solutions to flood-related problems involving:

  • problem identification
  • data collection
  • mitigation measures
  • administrative arrangements
  • land use planning policies/proposals, the Biennial Flooding Report and any other major relevant reports or publications
  • other policy development
  • significant current development proposals

Core membership of NESFLAG comprises Aberdeenshire Council, Aberdeen City Council, Scottish Water, The Scottish Environment Protection Agency and the Insurance Industry. Representatives from the two council’s development control services, transportation services and land use planning policy service provide a means of internal co-ordination by the authorities. View the Drainage Impact Assessment

A wider Consultative group provides a frequent source of information or valuable opinion on specific topics, either through informal contact or through invitation to participate on a sub-group. This wider group includes named representatives from business and industry, fisheries management, the emergency top of pageservices, natural heritage organisations, landowners, academics and the Scottish Executive.

Minutes of Meetings

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

2003

2002

Who Does What?

The Two Local Authorities

The two local authorities provide a range of services in relation to flooding including planning control, provision of flood prevention and defence schemes, emergency planning and managing the drainage of roads.

Land Use Development Plan

The Policy team of the Planning Policy and Environment service of Aberdeenshire Council and the City Development service of Aberdeen City Council have responsibility for the preparation of the land use development plan within the North East.

The Development plan consists of the Structure plan (which is prepared jointly by Aberdeenshire and Aberdeen City Council) and the Local plans (Aberdeenshire Local Plan and Aberdeen City Local Plan). The development plan identifies land for housing, industry and other land uses. It has a key function in making sure development is directed to areas where there is little or no risk of flooding and providing a policy framework for the assessment of risk for individual planning applications.

Development Control

The Development Control teams of both authorities apply development plan policy and assess the flood risk for new developments. They will oppose developments proposed for areas of flood risk to avoid future flooding problems. In order to minimise the risk of flooding they will normally require the use of "sustainable urban drainage systems" in all new developments where practical.

Transportation and Infrastructure

The Roads and Operations sectors of the Transportation and Infrastructure Service within Aberdeenshire Council and the Roads Management division of the Environment and Property section of Aberdeen City Council have responsibilities regarding the management of surface water drainage, particularly from the roads. They also have responsibility for the maintenance of culverted watercourses. These sectors are also principally involved in the design, construction and management of physical flood defences.

Emergency Planning

The two councils also manage the emergency planning function. Officers in the two authorities will bring an emergency plan into operation should there be a major flooding incident.

This plan will coordinate emergency and support services to those affected, including the setting up of reception centres. The Housing services of both authorities have a duty to provide emergency accommodation in the aftermath of such emergencies.

The Insurance Industry

The North East Scotland Flood Liaison and Advice Group (NESFLAG) has worked closely with the insurance industry from the start.

The insurance industry recognises the value of the work of flood appraisal groups and since 1996 has provided support in the form of an expert from the Benfield Hazard Research Centre who attends meetings of NESFLAG and all other flood appraisal groups around Scotland, from the Scottish Borders to Shetland.

He is able to advise on the insurability of development proposals, the latest developments in flood research in the UK and overseas and best practice from other local authorities. He has also provided an "Insurance Template", endorsed by the Association of British Insurers, which gives general guidance on what levels of flood risk are acceptable to insurers at normal terms, and key elements of this template have been adopted by NESFLAG.

The insurance perspective is increasingly important. In 2001, insurers started to introduce premium increases for people living in flood hazard areas on the grounds that it was not considered fair to continue to subsidise their premium from the premiums paid by those living in low risk areas. Premium increases are being introduced gradually over the next few years where the flood risk exceeds the 1 in 200 year event.

From 2003, insurers no longer guarantee to provide flood insurance in all cases, but as a temporary measure, they will try to continue to provide flood insurance where the risk is less than 1 in 75 years. This limited guarantee will last until 2007, to give time for local authorities to provide flood management schemes. For more details, visit the Nature Serve website.

In the meantime, any resident in the NESFLAG area who is having problems with obtaining or renewing flood insurance is welcome to report these to NESFLAG and the group will try to assist. In practice, where top of pagethere is an active flood appraisal group, local residents rarely have flood insurance problems.