New guidance on climate change allowances for flood risk assessment in land use planning to help businesses and communities be climate ready, was published by SEPA in April.
The guidance sets out recommended allowances for climate change that can be applied to Flood Risk Assessments submitted in support of planning applications and Strategic Flood Risk Assessments to inform the spatial strategy of development plans. It supersedes previous advice on climate change allowances for flood risk assessment in land use planning.
This guidance represents a big step forward in ensuring that planning authorities in Scotland underpin their land use planning decisions with the best evidence available. It will be updated to take on board feedback from users and as the evidence on climate science evolves, and is based on SEPA's interpretation of national planning policy and duties and requirements under relevant legislation.
The information in the guidance is supported by a Technical Background Paper (included as Appendix 2), which sets out the climate science and modelling assumptions that underpin the recommended allowances.
The guidance is available for download from the SEPA website - https://www.sepa.org.uk/environment/land/planning/guidance-and-advice-notes/
The climate change allowances are available to view in mapped form here.
(April 2019)