Water

Making Space for Water
Increasing Awareness and Resilience to All Forms of Flooding Including Through Improved Flood Warning

Project Lead

Alison Baptiste (Environment Agency)

Project Code

RF5; RF6; RF7

Timeframe

  • October 2007 report on feasibility of extending scope of flood forecasting and warnings;
  • Early 2007 launch of Home Information Packs;
  • Winter 2005 completion of rapid response register

Background

This project will cover three key areas
  1. to undertake a feasibility study into expanding current flood warnings to cover other flood risks such as groundwater,
  2. to work with other projects/organisations to include a flood search on Home Information Packs, and
  3. to develop a register of rapid response catchment areas.
The flood warning service currently administered by the Environment Agency focuses on flooding from rivers and the coast. As part of Making space for water the Environment Agency will continue to develop the most effective mechanisms for delivery and ways to increase coverage, reliability and accuracy. Defra will work with the Environment Agency and other relevant bodies to explore the feasibility of developing a warning service for urban drainage, sewers and groundwater flooding.

Home Information Packs have been developed to make the procedure for buying and selling homes in England and Wales easier and to bring pertinent information to the attention of those in the process of house buying. Defra is working closely with the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and the Environment Agency to develop a suitable flood risk search for inclusion in the packs. As part of the overall HIPs work a consultation was held in Spring 2005, and a voluntary 'dry-run' of the home information pack will be carried out in Summer 2006 with a view to introducing these in early 2007.

The Environment Agency is compiling a register of catchments where the potential speed, depth and velocity of flooding could cause extreme risk to life. Once this register has been completed, a review will be carried out on policy, processes and flood awareness information to ensure that they are appropriate in these high-risk areas. Emergency response in these catchments will also be reviewed to influence Local Authorities with regard to planning applications and their emergency response plans.

Page last modified: 9 December 2005
Page published: 9 December 2005

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs