‘UK’ flood defence plans far inferior to those in Scotland

I know some poor folk in one Scottish village were flooded out of their homes but we never heard just how many and, other than that, all the Scottish media had were some flooded roads and fields, while in England and Wales, thousands of homes were flooded again.

In the Observer today, SIX prominent academics lined up to blame the Tory Government for its lack of action and to warn of far worse to come.

Meanwhile BBC Scotland did find one woman who had to be rescued from her car but then returned to her disappointingly dry house and preferred to headline the supposed challenge to ‘Sturgeon’s’ leadership, made up entirely by that wee guy they have down in Westminster. See:

https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2020/02/21/some-have-told-me-that-nick-eardleys-unsubstantiated-guff-would-fail-a-first-year-journalism-assessment-others-have-agreed-one-said-he/

Sources tell us that Professor Hugh Pennington has offered to pretend he knows about flood defences if that will help Reporting Scotland out in these difficult times.

This gives me another opportunity to repeat the evidence for Scotland having better flood protection, never mentioned in our NoMedia:

As far back as 2006, researchers at the English College of Estates Management, whose patron is HRH Prince of Wales, made a number of highly encouraging comments about the achievements of the Labour-run Scottish Executive, SEPA and the Local Authorities:

As far as flood protection is concerned, unlike in England, the 1 in 200-year standard of protection is ‘universal’ for all new buildings, with a 1,000-year standard for such vulnerable uses as old people’s homes, schools, hospitals etc. In addition, construction in flood hazard areas has almost completely ended. Crichton (2003: 26) estimates that “the active flood management programme currently in progress will result in almost all high-risk properties being protected against the 200-year flood within the next three years, taking climate change into account.” It is also interesting to note that the Scottish Executive grants for flood defences have never been refused on the grounds of budget restraints and there is no rationing of flood defence spending.

It is clear, however, that the more stringent building standards which are applied in Scotland ensure that severe storms result in much less property damage than comparable events in England. Also, the level of flood protection and the commitment of funding to achieve flood protection are higher in Scotland than in England.’

College of Estates Management at: https://www.cem.ac.uk/media/28193/flooding.pdf

8 thoughts on “‘UK’ flood defence plans far inferior to those in Scotland

  1. Last week, along the Clyde Walkway all of the conditions for flooding were in place – a thaw in the hills on the upper Clyde, persistent heavy rain, high tide strong westerly winds (Storm ‘Denis’), yet there was no flooding in central Glasgow (The high tide river level at the BBC was very close to the top of the bank, but was moderated by raising the weir in Glasgow Green to retain water upstream, to be released when the tide turned.) Further upstream there was a minor overflow of Tollcross Burn, but much less than in previous years. There has been substantial flood management works at Carmyle and at Westthorn Park (Parkhead), as well as drainage improvements in Rutherglen. The former Hoover and Caterpillar sites at Uddingston have not been built on thus restoring the flood plain that was there.

    All this was carried out by the publicly owned Scottish Water.

    There are similar works at present along the Kelvin. The Kelvin responds very quickly to heavy rainfall with rapid rises in the river level. But, because, for almost all of its length in Glasgow it flows through a deep gorge on the few occasions when the water has risen above the bank, it is contained within the gorge and has minimal impact on public spaces and none on domestic and business properties.

    Similarly, areas of Cathcart, historically, flooded when the White Cart rose above its banks. This was, for many years an annual occurrence, but, again major drainage works have alleviated the situation markedly.

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  2. BBC news site has a report of flooding in Scotland in the last couple of days but all they could find to report were a series of cars stuck in water and the closure of the rail line north of Stirling

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