Deciding on a Flood Relief Scheme

Designing and delivering flood relief schemes is a highly complex and specialised area of capital investment. It involves assessing the potential risk and impact to an area from various flooding events; considering a range of options, including environmental options, to manage that risk; consider and assess the impact of options on the environment; ensure the scheme can be adapted to future climate change scenarios; and assess the economic viability for investing in a scheme and within that assessment opportunities for public realm. Scheme design also has to ensure that by solving the flood risk in one area it does not create a risk elsewhere.

Central to delivering flood relief schemes is extensive public consultation with both local populations and interested stakeholders. The OPW, together with Local Authorities involved, organises public consultation and information days, which are advertised on local radio stations, in the media and on social media. These consultations provide a wide and diverse range of views that can inform scheme options. Public consultation also involves reaching agreement with landowners for use of private lands on which schemes are sometimes built.

Deciding which option best addresses the flood risk for each area is based on an assessment of the various options against agreed flood risk management objectives. These were developed through public consultation and are aimed at considering potential benefits and impacts across a broad range of factors including:

• Economic benefits for properties, utilities, infrastructure and agriculture

• Environmental benefits and impacts for the environment

• Social benefits and impacts for people, the community and society

• Cultural benefits and impacts for assets and collections of cultural importance, and

• Technical ensuring measures are operationally robust, safe to build, operate and maintain and take account of climate change.

OPW Flood Relief Schemes are generally carried out under the provisions of the Arterial Drainage Act 1945 and the Arterial Drainage (Amendment) Act 1995, although in recent years some phases of schemes have been carried out by the Local Authorities under the Planning and Development Acts. The OPW either works in association with the relevant Local Authorities or funds Local Authorities directly to undertake flood relief schemes. In all cases delivering flood relief schemes involves five distinct, sequential and related stages. The stages involve assessing the flood risk, identifying options, planning, detailed design and construction. Where it is possible, the OPW’s project management of scheme delivery does involve running some stages in parallel to expedite delivery, such as detailed design and planning.

While the OPW’s approach to scheme delivery is based on best practice, there is no one set of criteria or certainty around the issues that can arise on any scheme, meaning that the time taken to complete a scheme is associated with its scale and complexity. Some of the reasons that can extend and delay scheme delivery can include the highly complex geographical make-up of an area, environmental assessments and issues may require two calendar years to make full seasonal assessments to meet with the statutory requirements, and working on private lands can lead to prolonged discussion with landowners. Other external factors such as planning decisions and judicial reviews, while important for due process, can also both inform and extend the time taken to deliver schemes.