Flood Risk Management

Local Flood Risk Management Strategy - Consutlation 

Under the Flood and Water Management Act, 2010, the Council of the Isles of Scilly has a statutory duty to develop a Local Flood Risk Management Strategy.

A revised draft strategy has been developed in collaboration with the Environment Agency which you can view to the right of this page.

We are now inviting all stakeholders, including individual members of the public, to comment on the draft.

The consultation will run from 7 March until 2 May 2025. 

How to respond and submit your views

You can read the draft to the right of this page and submit your views via a survey at the following link https://forms.office.com/e/mfgjwqNUEm.

Copies of the draft and paper copies of the survey are available on request. Please email environment@scilly.gov.uk if you would like paper copies sent to you in the post. We will provide self addressed envelopes so you can return your survey responses to us. 

What is covered by the Strategy

The draft strategy sets out, how the Council will undertake its flood risk management responsibilities over the next 6 years, from 2025 to 2031, focusing on:

• the risks of flooding from surface water, ground water and the sea;
• clarification of which Authority is responsible for what in relation to the management of local flood risk;
• and the defined role of the Council of the Isles of Scilly as Lead Local Flood Authority.

The Strategy also contains an Action Plan to focus delivery, which will be regularly reviewed and updated during the lifetime of the Strategy.

Further information 

If you have any questions about the strategy, or the consultation process, or wish to submit any additional information to support your responses, please contact environment@scilly.gov.uk.

 

Other information on Flood Risk and Coastal Erosion 

Shoreline Management Plan

The coasts of England and Wales are covered by twenty Shoreline Management Plans (SMPs) which are produced by the Environment Agency and other key stakeholders.

The SMP is a non-statutory policy document for coastal defence planning and sets out the recommended approach to managing the shoreline over the next 100 years.

The Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Shoreline Management Plan was last reviewed in 2011 and is currently being refreshed to ensure it remains appropriate and includes any new evidence which may have come to light since then.

- The Shoreline Management Plan originally was created for the Isles of Scilly in 1999 (SMP1 Isles of Scilly). 

- The second (current) Shoreline Management Plan was published in 2011 as the ‘Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Shoreline Management Plan (SMP2)’. The Isles of Scilly Section of the SMP2 is available in a PDF format here. 

- A mid-term review of the SMP2 was completed in 2016 and is available here, including a separate report for the Isles of Scilly.

An update of the Shoreline Management Plan is in progress and will be published when it is completed.

A map of the extent of the current Shoreline Management Plan designations for the Isles of Scilly, Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and the Severn Estuary is available here. This map is coded according to the following designations for the short, medium and long-term as:

NAI – No Active Intervention

HTL – Hold The Line

MR – Managed Retreat

 

Flood Risk Responsibility

The Environment Agency is responsible for the strategic overview of all sources of flood and coastal erosion risk.

Coastal Flooding & Erosion
The Environment Agency is specifically responsible for coastal flooding and flooding from main rivers (however there are no main rivers on the Isles of Scilly). As the Coastal Protection Authority, the Council has principal responsibility for coastal erosion. 

Surface & Ground Water Flooding 
The Council is responsible for flooding from surface water, ground water and managing the flood risk from Council owned and maintained highways drainage.

Sewers & Water Mains
South West Water is responsible for managing the flood risk from sewers and burst water mains.