From mountain to sea 1 Strategic Flood Risk Assessment LOCAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN 2021 MAIN ISSUES REPORT JANUARY 2019 Contents Page Part 1: Strategic Flood Risk Assessment ......................................................................... 1 1. Introduction ....................................................................................................... 1 2. Aims and Objectives ......................................................................................... 1 3. Background ....................................................................................................... 1 4. Planning Policy ................................................................................................. 2 5. Natural Flood Risk Management (NFRM) .......................................................... 4 6. Aberdeenshire Council Flood Risk Strategy ...................................................... 4 7. Historical Flooding ........................................................................................... 10 8. Flood Risk Management ................................................................................. 10 9. Flood Protection Schemes .............................................................................. 11 10. Existing flood protection schemes: .................................................................. 11 11. Planned flood protection schemes and studies ................................................ 12 12. Surface Water ................................................................................................. 13 13. Functional Flood Plain ..................................................................................... 14 14. Community Resilience .................................................................................... 14 15. Climate Change .............................................................................................. 14 16. Strategic Overview of Flooding ........................................................................ 15 Part 2: Site Assessments .............................................................................................. 24 17. Detailed Assessment Process ......................................................................... 24 List of Figures Figure 2: The North East Local Plan District with Potentially Vulnerable Areas identified Reproduced from North East Flood Risk Management Strategy, SEPA (December 2015) ........................................................ Error! Bookmark not defined. Figure 3: The Tay Estuary and Montrose Basin Local Plan District with Potentially Vulnerable Areas identified Reproduced from Tay Estuary and Montrose Basin Management Strategy, SEPA (December 2015) ......... Error! Bookmark not defined. Figure 3: Main sources of flooding for Scotland, North East and the Tay Estuary and Montrose Basin ........................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined. Figure 4: Banff and Buchan (West) - Existing allocations and sites considered for development and indicative flood risk (0.5% risk ......... Error! Bookmark not defined. Figure 5: Banff and Buchan (East) - Existing allocations and sites considered for development and indicative flood risk (0.5% risk) ........ Error! Bookmark not defined. Figure 6: Banff and Buchan (West) - Existing allocations and sites considered for development and indicative flood risk (0.5% risk) ........ Error! Bookmark not defined. Figure 7: Buchan (North) - Existing allocations and sites considered for development and indicative flood risk (0.5% risk) ............................. Error! Bookmark not defined. Figure 8: Formartine (North) - Existing allocations and sites considered for development and indicative flood risk (0.5% risk) ........ Error! Bookmark not defined. Figure 9: Formartine (South) - Existing allocations and sites considered for development and indicative flood risk (0.5% risk) ........ Error! Bookmark not defined. Figure 10 Garioch (North) - Existing allocations and sites considered for development and indicative flood risk (0.5% risk) ............................. Error! Bookmark not defined. Figure 11 Garioch (South) - Existing allocations and sites considered for development and indicative flood risk (0.5% risk) ............................. Error! Bookmark not defined. Figure 12: Kincardine and Mearns (North) - Existing allocations and sites considered for development and indicative flood risk (0.5% risk) ... Error! Bookmark not defined. Figure 13: Kincardine and Mearns (South) - Existing allocations and sites considered for development and indicative flood risk (0.5% risk) ... Error! Bookmark not defined. Figure 14: Marr (North) - Existing allocations and sites considered for development and indicative flood risk (0.5% risk) ............................. Error! Bookmark not defined. Figure 15: Marr (Central) - Existing allocations and sites considered for development and indicative flood risk (0.5% risk) ............................. Error! Bookmark not defined. Figure 16: Marr (South) - Existing allocations and sites considered for development and indicative flood risk (0.5% risk) ............................. Error! Bookmark not defined. List of Tables Table 1: Risk Framework ................................................................................................ 2 Table 2: Summary of actions by LPD .............................................................................. 7 Table 3: Flood Risk in Potentially Vulnerable Areas ......................................................... 9 Table 4: Potential Flood Studies for 2022-2028 ............................................................ 12 Table 5: Information on site for inclusion in the MIR ...................................................... 25 Part 1: Strategic Flood Risk Assessment 1. Introduction 1.2 It is best practice for the Main Issues Report (MIR) and the preparation of the Local Development Plan (LDP) to be informed, and supported, by a strategic overview of flood risk management issues, in the form of a Strategic Flood Risk Assessment (SFRA). 1.3 The SFRA allows local authorities to consider flood risk early on in the development plan process. It should also provide a strategic overview of flood risk in the LDP area, and support officers in the identification of the areas most suitable for development. It can also be used to identify sites that should not be used for development but are more suited to sustainable flood management. 1.4 The assessment of land for flood risk that we have undertaken has been considered at both the strategic level as well as the local level. The SFRA includes information gained from SEPA as well as Aberdeenshire Councils Flood and Coast Protection Team at the time of the preparation of the assessment. Also included in the SFRA is an analysis of planning policies from national, strategic and local policies and how the council complies with these policies. 2. Aims and Objectives 2.1 The main aim of the assessment is to provide information so as to avoid increasing overall flood risk by avoiding locating development in areas which are at risk of flooding through careful consideration of all types of flooding, including costal/tidal, pluvial and river based. 2.2 The main objectives of the SFRA are to: • Ensure development does not take place in areas of flood risk or contribute to flooding elsewhere; • Provide the baseline on flooding issues for the Environmental Report; • Identify the flood risk areas based on the risk framework presented in the Scottish Planning Policy (SPP); and • Provide an evidence-based report to inform the LDP. • Develop policies for flood risk management. 2.3 The key role of the SFRA is to identify if the potential development sites within the MIR are suitable for allocation as part of the subsequent plan making process. It should also mean that significant flood risk mitigation measures should not be necessary to overcome flood risk as the sites that would require this should be screened out through the allocation of sites, or risks managed through, for example, the location of open space. 3. Background 3.1 The Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009 sets out a statutory framework for delivering a sustainable and risk-based approach to managing flooding. The Act also sets duty on SEPA and local authorities to exercise flood related functions to reduce the overall risk of flooding and also to promote sustainable flood risk management. There are also two other main tasks which are set out in the act which are the preparation of assessments of the likelihood and impacts of flooding, and catchment focused plans to address these impacts. 3.2 Flood risk management plans are now in place across Scotland which require to be taken into account when development plans are being 1 prepared. To provide a baseline to inform the LDP SEPA advise that it is helpful to prepare a Strategic Flood Risk Assessment. This is to ensure that new development would be free from significant flood risk and new development would not increase flooding elsewhere. 4. Planning Policy 4.1 The Scottish Planning Policy suggests that the land allocated for development should be located in areas with the lowest risk to flooding first with the highest risk areas generally not suitable for most forms of development. The SPP also contains a risk framework which shows the return period and probability associated with river and coastal flooding as shown in Table 1. Table 1: Risk Framework RISK FRAMEWORK Category