Call for flood management plan

Elgin was flooded in November 2002

A 25-year plan for flood management measures should be drawn up, according to MSPs.

Holyrood's Rural Affairs and Environment Committee has been conducting an inquiry into the issue.

It also wants the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) to have responsibility for flood-risk management.

The Scottish Government is planning to introduce legislation on flood management later in the year.

In February the committee held a session in Elgin, which has been badly hit by flooding in recent years.

In evidence the Association of British Insurers called for a 25-year flood management strategy to plan an investment programme to mitigate flooding problems.

The committee's report backs a "road map" for at least this period which successive administrations could use to guide investment decisions.

It is vital that society is as well protected as possible Roseanna Cunningham Committee convener

Committee convener Roseanna Cunningham said climate change would mean that flooding became more commonplace.

"It is vital therefore that society is as well protected as possible," she said.

"Preventing all flooding is impossible but it is essential that as a society we become better at managing it and part of that is being able to take a long-term strategic view."

Sepa already acts as Scotland's flood warning authority but the committee called for this to be expanded to include the provision of strategic advice on flood management.

The report also raised concerns over "significant gaps" in high resolution weather radar coverage, including in Moray, the Highlands, Orkney and Shetland and the south-west.

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