Defra

Project Manager

Project Code

Timeframe

• Spring 2007 - public consultation and approaches to prioritisation
• Summer 2007 - summary definitions published and preparation of Medium Term Plan
• Autumn 2007 - target setting and prioritisation arrangements finalised
• Summer 2008 - initial review of implementation
  

Development of Outcome Measures

New Outcome Measures for flood and coastal erosion risk management have been developed to provide greater clarity on what policies and funding for flood and coastal erosion risk management are intended to achieve. Decisions on the best mix of activities and individual schemes will be left to the delivery bodies who are better placed to make those judgments. The new measures will also improve consistency between different levels of the strategic framework and contribute to the consistency and equity of approach between different types of risk, locations and delivery bodies.

It is anticipated that the Outcome Measures will be used to set targets progressively during the period covered by the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review, starting with the capital programme in 2008/09. It is not possible to apply targets to the whole programme immediately as better data is required for some areas. However, outputs for any measures without targets will be monitored with a view to setting targets in future. An initial review is planned for the second half of 2008 to inform any Spending Review in 2009.

In their letter of 29 January 2007 Defra and the Environment Agency explained to the other delivery bodies about additional information required to help inform the Forward Capital Programme in anticipation of these new arrangements.

Prioritisation Approaches

As there is a finite supply of money in any year to fund flood and coastal erosion risk management activities, a fair and transparent system is required to determine how and where this money should be allocated in order to achieve agreed priorities. The existing Priority Scoring System was not developed with Outcome Measures in mind. Consequently we are examining alternative prioritisation approaches to enable best use to be made of resources, and to achieve a balanced set of outcomes that deliver sustainable development in line with Government policy. These approaches are still being considered and will probably be announced in the autumn.

The measures

Public consultation was completed at the end of March 2007. This included a stakeholder discussion forum (see note of the event for summary of the discussions and copies of the presentations (large file - 1 mb)). Written responses to the consultation have also been summarised in a consultation report. The final set of measures was agreed by the Minister in June. There are nine measures in total. Seven of them apply to both flood and coastal erosion risk and two to flood risk only.

1. Overall benefits

This will show the benefits of flood and coastal erosion risk management activities in monetary terms. Where possible, aspects of the natural and historic environment and social benefits will be included. In time the costs and benefits of protecting properties, infrastructure, transport links, the environment and so forth will be identified separately as well as the total benefits.

2. Households at risk

The number of households at risk from flooding or from coastal erosion will be shown by this measure. Households at risk of flooding will be in one of four bands which describe the probability of flooding (very significant, significant, moderate or low). For households at risk of erosion, the time before the property is expected to be lost to erosion will be used. The number of households in each of four time bands will be counted, from the short-term (erosion likely within 10 years) to long-term (erosion likely between 50 and 100 years).

3. Deprived households at risk

This measure will enable the level of flood and coastal erosion risk reduction to the most deprived communities to be targeted. It will use an established ranking of deprived areas (the Index of Deprivation rank for Super Output Areas), combined with the risk bands for flooding and erosion described above to indicate the risk to deprived communities.

4. Nationally important wildlife sites

This measure will record, through liaison with Natural England, the delivery of flood, water level and coastal management remedies which contribute to the government target to have 95% of Sites of Special Scientific Interest in favourable condition by 2010.

5. UK Biodiversity Action Plan habitats

Flood and coastal erosion risk should improve the natural environment as well as reducing the risks to people and property. This measure will record the overall increase in Biodiversity Action Plan habitat achieved through flood and coastal erosion risk management activities.

6. Flood warning (flood risk only)

Flood warning allows those living and working in areas that can flood to take action to reduce risks, particularly to people.  This measure will record the proportion of households and businesses in high risk areas that are offered the Flood Warnings Direct service and have registered to receive warnings.  There is no equivalent measure for coastal erosion.

7. Contingency planning (flood risk only)

The Environment Agency works with other bodies in Local Resilience Fora to plan for different types of emergency. This measure will show the percentage of Local Resilience Fora emergency response plans that are considered by the Environment Agency to satisfactorily address flood risk. There is no equivalent measure for coastal erosion.

8. Inappropriate development

This will show the number of households covered by planning consents which have been granted despite Environment Agency objections on flood risk grounds. A similar measure for coastal erosion will be used when national maps showing erosion risk are available.

9. Long term policies and action plans

For the next few years this measure will ensure that sustainable, high-level plans for managing flood and coastal erosion risks are developed. It will show the percentage of Catchment Flood Management Plans and Shoreline Management Plans that have been signed off by Environment Agency Regional Directors.