Opinion

Learning from flood events

Better connectivity between spatial planning, infrastructure and long term economic plans would deliver many benefits for the UK alongside minimising flood risk says Steven Trewhella of Royal HaskoningDHV.

There is a misconception that the lessons we can learn about flood risk from the Netherlands are technical, and although at Royal HaskoningDHV we have many excellent flood and coastal management experts, we equally have that in the UK. The main things that we can learn from the Dutch that would help the UK plan for more extreme weather events in the future are related to connectivity: connecting flood risk management investment needs with the ambitions for the country; and connecting infrastructure with local spatial planning.

Dutch investments in flood risk management are investments in place-making. For example a project is underway on the River Ijssel which is part flood defence, part new town development, part improvement on transportation links, part habitat, amenity and recreation. So its purpose is multifunctional and it is revenue generating as well as capital intensive. It is about economic growth and prosperity, it is not purely an avoidance thing. It is a creative investment - not just a risk based one.

The question isn’t about the flood defences it is about how we want towns, cities and areas to look, work and play in 20 years time and that should inform our decision making.

In the UK there are a handful of these kinds of projects happening, like the Littlehaven scheme in Tyneside which through local leadership became a re-imagining of how a place should be used. There was a realignment of the coast, and as part of that they provided flood defence and amenity and recreation where there are other economic benefits for the community and a place that wasn’t used suddenly became a valuable asset. And it is something that they can now build forward from.

In a climate where financial concerns and value for money is critical this is an important point. In Carlisle the recorded water levels prove that the rainfall was unprecedented but as rainfall events become more severe the question then becomes how far do you go in terms of investment? When Royal HaskoningDHV started working on the Elgin flood alleviation scheme in Scotland for Moray Council the largest flood on record in the area had happened in 1829, but this was surpassed by two events in relatively fast succession – in 1997 and 2002. That meant we had to make a choice that was robust against uncertainty. We could contain that energy through canalisation and walls and embankments, or we could do a degree of adaption that fitted with the local plan. Working with the leadership of the local council in one critical area we looked at re-engineering the place so we moved some of the housing and businesses elsewhere and as a result opened the water course giving it more space. What that means is that in the future they have the ability to adapt that solution. It is a no regrets approach. They can augment that further as the infrastructure platform allows that without committing today’s taxpayers to an unnecessarily large bill.

But the point remains that if the investments that we make now are multifunctional then the return on investment becomes stronger, we might find that we can invest more in parallel with a greater return on investment and that might equally impact the standard because it becomes about the contribution that the whole development has on society. The affordability gap and whole concept of partnership funding can be well addressed by combining these.

The main things that we can learn from the Dutch that would help the UK plan for more extreme weather events in the future are related to connectivity.

However partnership funding will need to go further so that we release public seed funding alongside private investment and private industry will be more interested in investing if these schemes do more. There is no reason a flood defence needs to be an embankment. A flood defence could be a new suite of terraced properties or retail properties that are flood proof. They act as a flood defence but are rentable units with other uses attached. This is where if we were able to join the development needs of local areas alongside the flood defence needs we would go a long way towards future proofing these further.

Regional flood and coastal committees have a big role to play in this. Local plans need to be more central to this and as an industry we need to get closer to the planners and work together to look at what the needs are for the community and how investments come together. It does happen but, as is the case in The Netherlands it needs to become the norm. The question isn’t about the flood defences it is about how we want towns, cities and areas to look, work and play in 20 years time and that should inform our decision making. There is a real opportunity here for the government to support regional economic growth whilst protecting people, property and environment.