Flood Resilience Strategy Engagement Report

Summary

Communities and organisations involved in addressing flooding shared their lived experiences and their visions of a flood resilient Scotland through workshops run by Verture (formerly Sniffer) alongside the project partners Scottish Flood Forum and ClimateXChange.

The report on the extensive stakeholder engagement approach, the findings and next steps can be found below. This report informed the development of Scotland’s Flood Resilience Strategy.

The Strategy sets out a vision for Scotland where people and places are prepared for increased flooding and are adapting to a changing climate and creating sustainable resilient places in ways that are inclusive and fair.

Introduction and engagement

Scotland’s Programme for Government 2022 set out the aim to consult on a new flooding strategy for Scotland, including how community flood resilience can be built and how engagement with a broader range of delivery partners can deliver more diverse flood management actions faster.

The Scottish Government is committed to producing Scotland’s first Flood Resilience Strategy in 2024. The purpose of the Strategy is to change our approach from ‘fixing flooding problems’ to creating flood resilient places; to lay out the principles to improve flood resilience, and to set out strategic changes that are needed.

To support the development of the Strategy, Sniffer was commissioned to engage with a diverse range of stakeholders during 2023, working collaboratively with the Scottish Flood Forum and ClimateXChange. This document sets out our approach to stakeholder engagement activities during 2023, our findings and what happens next.

Engagement approach

Stage 1 workshops explored the big picture building blocks for a Flood Resilience Strategy from the perspectives of practitioners and communities, and what a Strategy could look like. This identified several key themes that formed the basis of further workshops. Stage 2 workshops brought together practitioners, policy and community representatives to explore what good looks like in terms of a flood resilient Scotland in 2045, and what is needed to get there, along with some indicators of success.

A policy workshop explored how joined up policy can support flood resilience. The online survey asked respondents to highlight three key things that would make their place more flood resilient and key actions or decisions that needed to happen to create flood resilient place.

Findings

The first set of workshops, which focused on the building blocks for a flood resilient Scotland, identified key issues as: Land and place. Inclusive community engagement. Working together to make good decisions. Roles and responsibilities. Sharing our knowledge and stories.

It also addressed what a successful strategy could look like and how to measure success. Building on these, in stage 2, identified enabling conditions that participants considered would help to achieve a flood-resilient Scotland by 2045 were identified. Clustering these, a Theory of Change was created that sets out the vision, outcomes and enablers as the key pillars of People, Place and Process, as well as an additional priority of Relocation, and Vision for a flood resilient Scotland.

People and places are prepared for increased flooding and are adapting to a changing climate, creating sustainable, resilient places in ways that are inclusive and fair.

Vision

Flooding is viewed more holistically, with improved planning and decision-making processes, a multiple benefit approach used to identify and implement solutions and co-visioning with communities. All this is enabled by clarification of responsibilities and the opportunities flood resilience can provide for wider benefits.

For each of the four pillars (people, place, process and relocation) in the Theory of Change, we set out the enabling conditions in the next five slides themed as follows: Policy and Leadership. Decision making and collaborative working. Financing. Knowledge and Data. Climate Justice.

Subsections, including people, place, and process, were discussed under the vision, with ‘enabling conditions identified through the engagement process’ identified for people, place and process.

Strategy aim

The appetite for the Flood Resilience Strategy from the engagement was for a short 10–20 page document:

• To provide a framework for collaboration that sets out levers of change and points to the roles and responsibilities.
• To consider flood resilience as part of holistic and broader placemaking objectives at multiple scales, balancing the need for nature-based approaches as well as engineering solutions.
• To address the interests of the public and private sectors and community interests, to support honest conversations with communities and look out for those who need help the most.
• To consider how to measure success.
• To address funding/financing.
• To signpost the tools needed for change.
• To link to statutory obligations.

Success measures

Aspirations were for a successful strategy to result in the following success measures: working well together with communities engaged and involved; reducing existing risk, improving surface water management and adapting to future flood risk.

Current flood resilience approaches and decisions are considered fair. The view was that Scotland is better at recovering after flooding events. Flood resilience measures are adaptive to uncertain future extremes. Relocated communities are flourishing. The planning system is helping to reduce flood risk and is making space for water at the coast. Multiple benefits were recognised for creating flood resilient places.

Reflections

The findings reflect the fact that engagement with communities attracted many people who have been flooded, are fearful of being flooded or concerned about local flooding schemes. The engagements found that a creative approach to thinking about the future (2045) rather than addressing today’s problems was helpful. Nonetheless the issues faced by many communities are significant and those who are most likely to be impacted face stark realities with implications being not only physical and economic but affecting health and wellbeing.

Those who took part said they welcomed the opportunity for dialogue, with communities and practitioners coming together in a safe space with constructive conversations and a desire for greater interaction. Such engagement at a national and local level could form a valuable element of the Flood Resilience Strategy, increasing shared understanding and trust. Introducing ways for communities to talk about their lived experiences as part of the broader evidence base is beneficial in achieving greater flooding and climate resilience.

It was noted that many agencies acknowledge the challenges of joined up policy and delivery, and the expectations placed on them, particularly in relation to land management and use and the role of the planning system and resourcing. Many of the enablers of change identified relate to improved mechanisms for working together, as well as the need to think differently about funding mechanisms.

A high expectation of what this Flood Resilience Strategy can achieve, and a desire to be kept involved with honest conversations, particularly around relocation was found. There is much opportunity for the Flood Resilience Strategy to be brave in how it addresses these challenges.

The partners acknowledge the funding received from Scottish Government to deliver this engagement process. The information presented in the document represents the findings from the engagement process and does not necessarily represent the views of Sniffer or the project partners. The findings, along with other sources of information, will be used by Scottish Government to inform the Flood Resilience Strategy.

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