A new £5 million fund will help communities improve preparedness
and reduce flood risk.
Opening in 2027, the £5 million Community Flood Resilience Fund
is a key element of the additional £15 investment in flood
prevention set out in the recent Programme for Government (PfG).
The fund will allocate £1 million directly to community
applications and £4 million to local authorities applying with
communities to deliver local flood resilience measures.
This investment will empower local people and organisations to
play a leading role in reducing flood risk and improving
preparedness in their communities for any future flooding events.
A further £2.5 million from the £15 million total announced in
the PfG will be available to local authorities to future-proof
public assets and resilience infrastructure, making the most of
the flood protection already in place. Another £3 million will
target local authority projects that use nature to support
flooding solutions, such as managing rainfall and water-flow
through planting design.
Innovative coastal projects to replenish sand dunes and reduce
flood risk will receive up to £1 million, and £500,000 will be
made available to help communities recovering from recent
flooding.
Details of the funding are set out in the Flood Resilience
Strategy Implementation Plan, outlining 65 actions organisations
across Scotland will take over the next four years to improve
Scotland's flood resilience. The Implementation of the Flood Risk
Management Act Report 2021 -2025 is also published and sets
out the steps taken since 2021.
Climate Action and Rural Affairs Secretary said:
Flood resilience is about more than managing water. It is about
how we plan our towns and cities, protect vital infrastructure,
manage land, and support our communities to adapt. From strategy
to the implementation plan published today, we are setting out
how we will protect people and places across the country from the
increased flood risk as a result of climate change over the next
four years.
Since 2016, the Scottish Government has invested £612 million to
support local authority flood risk management, helping to deliver
21 flood protection schemes, with four further projects under
construction, two under contract, and three progressing through
development.
In addition to these significant investments we have a strong
track record on working with nature to strengthen our resilience
to a changing climate through restoring our rivers and peatlands,
planting more trees and wider nature-based solutions. By working
with communities and councils across Scotland we will protect
more people from the devastation, stress and disruption flooding
causes.
National Flood Resilience
Strategy: Implementation Plan - gov.scot
National Flood Resilience
Strategy: Implementation Report (2021 - 2025) - gov.scot
