The regulations were enacted in December 2009. They outline a set of tasks, which the county council is required to follow between now and approximately 2015. The regulations also implement the 2007 EU Floods Directive.
In accordance with the regulations the council has a series of new responsibilities, these are:
- The preparation of a Preliminary Flood Risk Assessment (PFRA) Report, including the identification of flood risk areas
- The preparation of Flood Hazard Maps and Flood Risk Maps
- The preparation of Flood Risk Management Plans
- Cooperating with the Environment Agency and other Lead Local Flood Authorities.
Preliminary Flood Risk Assessment
Surrey County Council submitted an updated Preliminary Flood Risk Assessment to the Environment Agency in 2017. This update was adopted in early 2018.
The PFRA analyses the flood risk and number of flood incidents in order to provide an evidence base for planning and prioritising future flood risk management work. The Local Flood Risk Management Strategy sets the long term vision of the risk management authorities and the objectives through which we aim to reduce flood risk.
Flood Hazard Maps and Flood Risk Maps
The council is required to work with the Environment Agency to assess flood risk areas and provide flood hazard maps to show the extent, direction, speed and likelihood of possible floods.
Flood Risk Maps will show the number of people, economic activity and protected areas that could be affected by flooding. They will also show the industrial activities that may cause pollution in a flood. These maps are updated by the County Council by submitting the recommendations and evidence to the Environment Agency who publish these maps.
Local Flood Risk Management Strategy
In 2017, the risk management authorities in Surrey agreed and signed up to an updated Local Flood Risk Management Strategy. This strategy set out the long term vision for reducing flood risk and identifies the objective through which this will be achieved. The strategy sets a frame work for authorities, members of the public and businesses to apply when trying to address a flood risk location.
