Local Flood Risk Management Strategy

Our objective is to manage flood risk through our capital programme, using sustainable techniques, nature-based solutions and adaptive pathways in delivering our flood risk management activities, projects, and schemes.

As a result, the way we manage flood risk will be more sustainable and nature-based and our approach will adapt over time. We will seek out opportunities to work with partners to embed and deliver multiple benefits in terms of biodiversity, water resources, climate change adaptation and carbon reduction through all our flood risk management activities. The actions we will be undertaking to address this objective are set out in our action plan.

Buckinghamshire Council uses different project stages to reflect increasing levels of certainty around the development and delivery of flood risk management projects. The projects within our capital programme are classified as either:

• Capital programme - projects typically have full funding packages agreed and are expected to start construction in future years and are in the development stage. This is subject to approval of a full business case, through securing funding from alternatives or some combination of the two avenues.
• Pipeline programme - project proposals that may qualify for some government funding and have been given an indicative allocation. However, they have not yet identified sufficient contributions to fund the project and there might not be a sufficiently well-developed case to enter the development programme at this stage.

The visibility that this provides enables us to better support our partners and identify where additional efficiencies or delivery improvements could be introduced. This approach also allows us to align with the council's wider Capital and Investment Strategy, that aims to ensure that capital investment is making optimum impact within Buckinghamshire.

It is important to us that our capital programme not only directs our aspiration to deliver and expand capital projects but progresses wider goals which are encapsulated within our other objectives. This particularly includes:

• Improving our understanding of flood risk
• Promoting nature-based solutions through expanding delivery of Natural Flood Management and Sustainable Drainage Systems retrofit schemes.
• Expanding delivery of Property Flood Resilience (PFR)
• Delivering multiple benefits in terms of biodiversity, water quality, climate change adaptation and carbon reduction through all our schemes
• Identifying opportunities to secure additional funding through stakeholder partnerships

Nature-based solutions (NBS) are a suite of techniques which sustainably manage and restore natural systems to help to tackle flooding and climate change. NBS can be used from headwaters to lowland areas to make catchments more resilient. Traditional schemes can also be adapted to ensure that they also deliver maximum benefits to nature, through the design and materials chosen.

Natural Flood Management (NFM) is a specific type of NBS which involves the alteration, restoration, or use of landscape features to reduce flood risk. This may include regenerative soil management practices, peatland restoration, leaky dams, ponds, reconnecting floodplains and creating upstream storage areas.

By encouraging water to be retained, or to be absorbed by the ground surface, we can reduce peak runoff and erosion that may affect downstream areas and also enhance the water storage potential of landscape, soil, and aquifers, by restoring ecosystems, natural features and characteristics of watercourses.

NFM is most effective in smaller more frequent events, and we consider and appraise it alongside a range of solutions including traditional engineering options. NFM can also complement and enhance the effectiveness of traditional flood defence schemes in larger flood events where even small reduction in flood peaks can allow existing hard defences to maintain a level of protection.

In recent years, we have worked with partners, consultants, and contractors to collaboratively deliver several successful NFM schemes and have gained experience in the delivery of these projects as a Local Authority.

Our ambition is to continue to extend our delivery of NFM, in line with the National Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategy. We are currently developing a NFM Strategy for Buckinghamshire. The objective of the strategy is to identify priority catchments and develop NFM project pipelines within Buckinghamshire while working in partnership with stakeholders and communities. The strategy also aims to build collaborative working relationships with neighbouring LLFAs to maximise the benefits at a catchment level.

We will continue to work with landowners to explore schemes which support them to implement NFM on their land, including Environmental Land Management schemes such as Countryside Stewardship and Sustainable Farming Incentives; and England Woodland Creation Offer.

By embedding NBS at the heart of our flood risk management strategy we reflect the national Flood and Coastal Risk Management Strategy objectives and measures. We can foster the resilience of our communities and the local economy through better water resource management, improved water quality, enhanced visual amenity and increased biodiversity. We will continue to identify opportunities to work with other risk management authorities and organisations in the county where appropriate.

We want to help communities and local economies recover more quickly after a flood, making properties and infrastructure more resilient to future flooding.

Property Flood Resilience (PFR) refers to:

• Resistance measures (that slow down or stop water entering a property)
• Recoverability measures (which minimise damage and speed up recovery after flooding has occurred)

These measures can be installed when an existing property is known to be at risk, or they can be used to 'build back better’ after a property has flooded.

While property level protection schemes do not reduce the likelihood of flooding that a property is exposed to, PFR is a useful tool in making existing communities at risk more resilient to flooding and climate change. PFR is often more cost effective when measures are considered for groups of properties as part of a joint solution. Schemes that include property level measures can also be delivered more quickly than interventions that require larger capital investments. PFR is not appropriate on new properties as a means of justifying development.

Where it is the best solution, and subject to funding and resourcing, we will work closely with residents to develop PFR schemes in areas vulnerable to flooding, which can offer opportunities for raising flood awareness and enhancing cohesion with the community.

We will also provide information to residents who wish to install their own PFR measures.

Examples of PFR measures include flood resistant doors, door-boards, airbrick covers, non-return valves, porous plaster and raising electrics. These resistance measures should aim to reduce the risk of flooding for depths up to 0.6m, but can go up to 0.9m with a structural survey.

PFR can be used in any type of development (commercial or residential) that is susceptible to flooding and it is particularly suitable as a retrofit measure.

Information for householders is available on the BeFloodReady website. The National Flood Forum (NFF) has developed a Blue Pages Guide on the products and services available, including indicative costs for properties.

PFR best practice is set out in the CIRIA C790F Code of Practice for Property Flood Resilience. These publications set out the six standards and associated requirements that should be met during the PFR delivery process from assessment and survey to operation and maintenance. This Code of Practice is intended to ensure that the most appropriate measures are chosen, and they remain fit for purpose throughout their service life.

Buckinghamshire Council is a member of the Milton Keynes and Buckinghamshire Natural Environment Partnership (NEP). Through this partnership, we are identifying where actions for nature could benefit flood risk management, and will make sure that our activities complement the actions and contribute to the aims of the Local Nature Recovery Strategy and Biodiversity Action Plan. Buckinghamshire was one of the five pilot areas chosen by Defra to trial the development of a Local Nature Recovery Strategy in 2020 to 2021. Once this strategy is finalised, it is will become a part of the national Nature Recovery Network, which is aiming to retore and increase the availability of connected wildlife rich place for the benefit of local communities.

We will ensure that we utilise the resources available from the NEP for example Biodiversity Opportunity Areas, Natural Capital Mapping and Green Infrastructure Opportunities Mapping when considering flood risk management schemes. Some of the outputs of the work carried out on Biodiversity Net Gain by Buckinghamshire Council with our NEP partners including a priority offsetting map, can be found here:

Biodiversity Net Gain – Buckinghamshire & Milton Keynes Natural Environment Partnership (bucksmknep.co.uk)

Buckinghamshire Council has recognised achieving environmental improvement through planning as a key priority for our council, through our 2020 - 2025 Corporate Plan and through our shared strategic vision for Buckinghamshire which emphasises our intention to:

'Lead on implementing the best practice and policies in environmental protection and enhancement, including the biodiversity net gain scheme.'

This has enabled the early introduction of Biodiversity Net Gain into our planning policy, ahead of the mandatory net gain requirements being introduced nationally in November 2023. Buckinghamshire Council has produced a Biodiversity Net Gain Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) to support developers.

It lays out our preferred hierarchy to mitigate on-site loss. As Lead Local Flood Authority, we will continue to work with our ecologists and planners to ensure that SuDS can contribute to BNG for new developments.

We will ensure that our flood projects will achieve at least 10% biodiversity net gain ensuring that they leave biodiversity in a better state than before. Embedding nature based solutions within our flood risk management strategy will help us to achieve this. This is also an effective way of working towards “good ecological status” for water bodies and compliance with standards for protected habitats, as required by the Water Framework Directive.

Buckinghamshire Council will continue to identify opportunities to work with water companies to develop solutions to sewer incapacity to meet targets in reducing storm overflows, particularly in our environmentally sensitive Chalk streams. This will include collaboration on Water Industry National Environment Programme (WINEP) schemes to improve river water quality and restore wetlands.

There are opportunities for us to work in partnership with Highways Buckinghamshire to reduce polluted surface water runoff (for example from highways) entering the sewer system and contributing to sewer overflows, or flowing directly into a watercourse, both of which lead to poor water quality and ecological status in our watercourses. Retrofitting SuDS and 'building back better' as part of highways improvements are key ways of achieving this.

The Catchment Based Approach (CaBA), places an emphasis on community leadership and enable collaborative working through local partnerships to achieve targets set by the 25 Year Environment Plan. Buckinghamshire Council is involved in five Catchment Partnerships across the Thames and Anglian River basins, the vision and objectives for the current cycle (2022 to 2027) can be found here. Some of the measures that have been prioritised include natural flood management schemes that are being designed to achieve multiple betterment objectives. Several of these measures have also been reflected in our Action Plan.

It is essential that we adopt a holistic approach to achieve the Council's ambition of reaching net zero by 2050. Our Climate Change and Air Quality Strategy sets outs targets and a suite of measures Buckinghamshire Council is taking to curb carbon emissions over the next 30 years. This includes reducing emissions and reporting on emissions savings in all the Council's operations, which includes flood risk management.

We will work to ensure that we take any opportunities for flood risk schemes, particularly natural flood management schemes, which will contribute to the targets of the Climate Change and Air Quality Strategy. The importance of air quality and carbon sequestration benefits will be accounted for when considering vegetated schemes in urban areas such as highway SuDS retrofit.

We will align with national Flood and Coastal Risk Management (FCERM) appraisal guidance on the appraisal of schemes to achieve a reduction in carbon emissions. Buckinghamshire Council will use a low carbon approach in all stages of the development of flood schemes. The approach assesses carbon emissions across the entire life cycle of FCERM solutions from construction to decommissioning. This enables greater carbon reductions to be achieved when compared to options that involve carbon reduction in the later stages of design and operation of traditional schemes.

Carbon reduction in flood risk management can be achieved in several different ways, this includes:

• Reducing carbon embedded in construction methods and materials of the scheme
• Using nature-based solutions that promote carbon sequestration such as grass land and floodplain restoration or woodland planting
• Reduction in future emissions by reducing the likelihood or impacts of future flood events

The valuation of benefits associated with this approach allows for carbon costs to be monetised in the appraisal of schemes to identify the best carbon emission reductions and opportunities for carbon sequestration that can be achieved within flood risk management activities.

It is not possible to prevent all flooding, and with limited resources and funding it is not possible to carry out work in every area at risk of flooding. The approach to flood risk management must be proportionate and risk based and ensure that environmental and other consequences are taken into account. Schemes which deliver the highest benefit will be prioritised. The Lead Local Flood Authority has no budget to fund schemes. We will seek Government funding where proposals meet the funding criteria related directly to the number of households protected, damage prevented and other benefits such as the environmental or business benefits that will be delivered.

How we fund flood management projects.

Flood and coastal erosion risk management projects and funding - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

Central government funding for a scheme relates to the number of properties where risk is reduced, the damages being avoided, plus other benefits a scheme would deliver, for example creation of habitat. Schemes for surface water management and property flood resilience can be funded through this system.

We are required to follow a process to demonstrate, through feasibility and a business case, that the scheme is economically justifiable (i.e. the economic benefits outweigh the costs). Funding can often fall short for many communities across Buckinghamshire where there are relatively low number of properties at risk, compared to many other schemes nationally.

If a proposed scheme does not qualify for full central funding, contributions from local partners are required to meet the full costs of the scheme. However, it does mean that local contributions may be required for any scheme to progress. If required, local contributions would be sought from those who are likely to benefit from the proposed scheme. The entire process from initial feasibility, through to Business Case, design and finally construction is complex.

Schemes which are likely to attract the most central funding are those which:

• Protect a large number of households: especially in deprived areas, where the impacts of flooding are significant, or where flooding is frequent
• Achieve other benefits such as protecting businesses, agricultural activity and national and local infrastructure, across the whole life of the scheme
• Provide environmental benefits needed to maintain healthy ecosystems as well as offset any habitats lost when a scheme is built

We have taken opportunities where possible for obtaining funding through specific funded programmes such as the Defra Flood and Coastal Resilience Innovation Programme.

We will continue to explore funding opportunities from other sources at a national scale e.g. Department for Transport, Department for Education, National Lottery, Heritage funding.

Buckinghamshire Council is represented on the Thames and Anglian (Central) Regional Flood and Coastal Committees (RFCC). Funding is raised by the RFCCs by way of a levy on the Lead Local Flood Authorities in their areas and payments are supported by grants from central Government.

The RFCCs are responsible for making decisions on how the levy is spent. The local levy can be used to support locally important flood risk management projects that are not considered to be national priorities and hence do not attract full central government funding.

We will make use of specific funding streams within RFCC where possible, for example initiatives to streamline small funding applications for Property Flood Resilience, SuDS retrofit and natural flood management schemes within the Thames and Anglian RFCC.

We will also, where appropriate, apply for funding through other Risk Management Authority partners such as Thames Water and Anglian Water. Anglian Water's partnership funding programme is an ongoing avenue to co-fund schemes. Funding is prioritised where Anglian Water can derive a sufficient range of benefits (e.g. in water resource availability, property flood reduction, sewer spill reduction) and assessing natural capital means nature based solutions are favoured. Thames Water has also funded SuDS and surface water projects which prevent surface water entering the sewer network through its Surface Water Management Programme fund.

Local funding for flood management schemes can be obtained from developers, typically by way of Planning Obligations (POs) or the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL).

Planning obligations are mechanisms which make a potential development acceptable by bringing it in line with the objectives of sustainable development. As developers may offer a financial payment to complete any work, POs could be utilised to fund flood management schemes in two ways.

• To fund flood management schemes specifically related to an individual development project.
• Through pooling so that several development schemes provide the funding for one flood management scheme that serves a wider area

CIL is a planning charge that came into force in 2010 which allows local authorities to raise funds from developers through a levy. These funds are designed to cover the cost of new public facilities required because of the development. Currently, the areas covered by CIL in Buckinghamshire includes Wycombe, Chiltern and South Buckinghamshire. Buckinghamshire Council is considering introducing CIL to the remaining areas of the county. This will enable a more consistent countywide approach to developer and infrastructure funding.

Whilst the levy is not to be used to remedy pre-existing deficiencies in infrastructure it can be used to increase the capacity of existing infrastructure or to repair that which is necessary to support the development. Other local sources (e.g. Business Rate Supplements) may also be considered.

Buckinghamshire Highways have a limited budget for undertaking smaller scale works where highway drainage is an issue. Therefore, if the Lead Local Flood Authority is unable to justify a scheme, Highways can sometimes to take forward drainage works of a smaller scale.

The Strategic Flood Management team will continue to seek avenues to work with local business leaders to encourage and promote flood management opportunities as part of local economic recovery and development in Buckinghamshire.