Nottinghamshire County Council was required by the Flood Risk Regulations (2009) to prepare a Preliminary Flood Risk Assessment (PFRA). All upper tier local authorities in England have been required to produce a PFRA.
About the PFRA
The PFRA is a high level screening exercise to identify areas where there is significant flood risk in national terms for reporting to Europe (known as Flood Risk Areas).
It covers the risk of flooding from local sources, namely Ordinary Watercourses, surface water (overland runoff) and groundwater. It does not directly consider flooding from main rivers, such as the River Trent.
The PFRA report looks at past flooding and where future flooding might occur across the County and the consequences that that might have to people, properties and the environment, including cultural heritage and ecology. The PFRA has assessed if local data suggests that we should have a Flood Risk Area (that must meet the national significance threshold). The report will help us to develop our strategy to manage local flooding in Nottinghamshire.
We have developed a flood related glossary to explain terminology used.
Consultation
We liaised with communities, Elected Members and partner organisations throughout the development of the PFRA.
In September 2010 we wrote to nearly 200 Parish and Town Councils and also used the 67 Elected Members to request a list of known drainage problem locations. We have used this information to inform the PFRA.
We have been working with other Risk Management Authorities, including the Borough and District Councils, Environment Agency, Severn Trent Water and Internal Drainage Boards, to raise awareness of the new roles and responsibilities for local flood risk management, collect data and engage them in the development of the PFRA and Local Flood Risk Management Strategy. We also held a joint workshop with Nottingham City Council in February.
Flood risk areas in Nottinghamshire
Throughout Nottinghamshire there are locations at risk from flooding. However in terms of a European perspective nowhere in Nottingham or Nottinghamshire is considered to be a significant flood risk area.
This is not to say that localised flooding in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire is insignificant. The flooding in June 2007 clearly highlighted how vulnerable our communities are to local flooding and the PFRA highlights that a large number of people could be affected by surface water flooding.
As a consequence of this risk, both Nottinghamshire County Council and Nottingham City Council, considers this threat to the health and wellbeing of these residents seriously. This will be considered as we develop our respective Local Flood Risk Management Strategies.
Effects of the PFRA on insurance
The Insurance Industry will have access to the flood risk information produced as part of the PFRA, as will all members of the public, subject to certain restrictions.
The information in the PFRA is not suitable to assess risk to individual properties in all parts of the County in detail as we cannot know all details about all properties, for example how high the floor level is above ground level and how water might get in to houses through doors, windows and airbricks. Insurers can therefore only use the information as a first stage in assessing the flood risk for a general location.
The costs of flood insurance can vary according to the level of flood risk, market strategy by individual insurers and other factors for example, crime.
For more information about flood risk and insurance see the Environment Agency website: www.environment-agency.gov.uk
Preliminary Flood Risk Assessment documents
The PFRA documents are provided below. It was undertaken as a broadscale and strategic flood risk assessment of local sources of flooding and is not intended to be used to identify individual properties that may be at risk of flooding or provide details of where and when flood risk management works will be undertaken.
Local knowledge of past flooding is an important source of information which can tell us more about how accurate the flood mapping we hold is. If you have any questions about the mapping or have information about past flooding in the area please email: flood.team@nottscc.gov.uk
Final report
Nottinghamshire Preliminary Flood Risk Assessment [PDF 1.6MB]
Annex 1
Past flooding [PDF 51KB]
Annex 2
Future flooding [PDF 68KB]
Annex 3
Find out more about Flood Risk Regulations
You can find further information about the Flood Risk Regulations and Preliminary Flood Risk Assessments on the Environment Agency website: www.environment-agency.gov.uk
