Consistent standards of defence for flood cells

This project examined whether the problem of inconsistent approaches to managing flood risk could be overcome by using a standard set of criteria.

Documents

Consistent standards of defence for flood cells - final report (135 KB) PDF

The advantages and disadvantages of consistent standards for communities - technical report (633 KB) PDF

The advantages and disadvantages of consistent standards for communities - technical summary (1 MB) PDF

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Details

Objectives

This project was designed to explore the problem of different parts of the same community receiving different levels of management of flood risk. This is due to the range of approaches used to evaluate flood risk, and the different criteria that can be used. The project explored the benefits and downsides of using a standard set of criteria for assessing flood risk, including economic efficiency and social equity.

Approach

The project considered a range of approaches to making decisions about managing flood risk, and examined five possible criteria, narrowed down from a longer list. These were then applied to seven case studies to explore how they’d affect a range of practical river flood management situations.

Outcome

The research report is a discussion of the issues and should not be considered as a statement of policy or best practice. The recommendations from the work were to be taken into account in developing future guidance and provided users with a better understanding of the basis for current guidance.

The project started in 2002 and was completed in 2003 at a cost of £60,000.

Updates to this page

Published 15 February 2021