Local government performance framework
NI 189 - Flood and coastal erosion risk management
The aim of this indicator is to record the progress of local authorities in delivering agreed actions to implement long term flood and coastal erosion risk management (FCERM)plans; these plans are Shoreline Management Plans (SMPs) and Catchment Flood Management Plans (CFMPs). Adoption of CFMPs and SMPs should inform Regional Spatial Strategies and other plans.
The Government provides funding to encourage a long-term strategic and sustainable approach which helps ensure work in one place does not cause problems in another and to ensure the best ways of managing risk are identified.
Catchment Flood Management Plans (CFMPs) are led by the Environment Agency (EA) and aim to encourage an integrated, sustainable and strategic approach to the management of flood risk in river catchments. EA currently expect that all CFMPs will be in place by December 2008;
Shoreline Management Plans (SMPs) are led by coastal groups with a lead authority (a local authority or EA). They provide large-scale assessments of the risks associated with coastal processes and long term policy frameworks to reduce risk in a sustainable manner. SMPs cover the entire coastline and are currently being reviewed on a rolling programme to 2010.
Both CFMPs and SMPs are subject to public consultation and take account of wider social, environmental and economic objectives. Detailed guidance on SMPs is also available.
Measurement and reporting
Measurement will be made by recording the percentage of agreed actions to implement long term flood and coastal erosion risk management plans that are being undertaken satisfactorily. Agreed actions are those activities identified in the CFMP / SMP Action Plan signed off by the Environment Agency’s Regional Director that are attributed to the relevant Local Authority.
The Environment Agency will record progress against all actions within CFMPs and second round SMPs – these will be attributed to relevant local authorities and a report produced on an annual basis identifying the proportion of actions attributed to a particular local authority that are being undertaken satisfactorily.
Baselines will be set at the local authority level on a case by case basis. No national baseline is envisaged. The Environment Agency can provide detailed information on the monitoring of actions.
Targets
The target is dependent on CFMP/SMP action plans being in place. Where not, generic actions to indicate whether LAs are going in the right 'direction of travel' in understanding and addressing flood risk at a strategic level should be considered. These could include:
- The Local Authority is engaging at an appropriate level in the partnership that is taking forward the CFMP/SMP.
"Appropriate level" reflects the level of current and future flood risk and the magnitude of the challenge to address them. So an LA with major urban areas at a high risk of flooding risk would be expected to be more actively engaged as a partner in taking forward the CFMP actions than a rural LA with scattered populations at low or moderate flood risks. - The Local Authority understands and acknowledges the CFMP/SMP's findings on both current and future flood risk. These could be used as targets in the first year of LAAs before the full plans are in place and numbers of LA actions in SMPs and CFMPs are known.
Page published: 1 October 2008