2015-2021 Flood Risk Management Strategy queries: EIR release

Information requested

1. “Which of the 42 formal flood protection schemes or engineering works established within the 2015-2021 Flood Risk Management Strategies are (a) under construction and (b) at the planning or other stage of development, broken down by (i) the expected completion date, including the reason for any date being beyond the 2021 timeframe, (ii) the number of properties that will be protected and (iii) the (A) initial forecast and (B) final expected cost of each.

2. Please also indicate which, if any, of the 42 flood protection schemes or engineering works have reached completion since 2021.”

Response

As the information you have requested is ‘environmental information’ for the Purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs), we are required to deal with your request under those Regulations. We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA.

This exemption is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes. This is essentially a technical point and has no material effect on the outcome of your request.

Question 1

Under regulation 6(1)(b) of the EIRs, we do not have to give you information which is already publicly available and easily accessible to you in another form or format. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website(s) listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

The Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy, Gillian Martin, responded to Parliamentary Question S6W-30798 on 7 November 2024 which provided a breakdown of flood protection schemes which are currently under construction and/or at the planning/development stage. The published answer also provides information in relation to the costs of said protection schemes and the number of properties each scheme would protect.

Question 2

Of the 42 flood protection schemes proposed between 2016 and 2021, 9 of these have been completed since 2021. I have provided a list of completed schemes below for your convenience:

• Smithton and Culloden (2021)
• Broughty Ferry (2022)
• Kirkintilloch - Park Burn (2022)
• New Cumnock (2022)
• Drumnadrochit (2022)
• Arbroath (2023)
• Caol and Lochyside (2023)
• Stonehaven (2023)
• Stranraer (2024)

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.