The Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009 Publication of Cycle 2 Interim Report
Perth and Kinross Council · 10 November 2025
Back to Climate Change and Sustainability Committee — 10 November 2025 and its agenda
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Our vision is a Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality ___________________________________________________________________ Committee or Board: Climate Change and Sustainability Date of Meeting: 10 November 2025 Report Title: The Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009 Publication of Cycle 2 Interim Report Report Number: 25/300 Report Author: Russell Stewart, Senior Engineer, Flooding Team Organisational Lead: Fraser Crofts, Strategic Lead – Environment and Infrastructure ___________________________________________________________________ 1. Purpose 1.1 The purpose of this Report is to seek the Committee’s acknowledgement of the content of the interim reports on the Local Flood Risk Management Plans. The Council’s duties with regard to flooding are set out within the Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009 (The Act). The Council published its second Local Flood Risk Management Plans in December 2022. This Report now presents the final drafts of the Interim Reports on the progress made in implementing those plans. Per Section 37 of The Act, the Interim Reports are required to be published no later than December 2025. 1.2 Sections 1. Purpose 2. Recommendation(s) 3. Background/Context 4. Main Issues 5. Proposals 6. Conclusion 7. Impact Value Assessment 8. Appendices 2. Recommendations It is recommended that the Committee: 2.1 Endorses the progress made on delivering the Local Flood Risk Management Plans published in December 2022 as set out in the Interim Reports.
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2.2 Acknowledges the content of the Interim Reports on the Local Flood Risk Management Plans for the Tay District and the Council’s input to the Interim Reports for the Forth, the Forth Estuary and the Tay Estuary & Montrose Basin Districts. 2.3 Approves that the Strategic Lead Environment and Infrastructure will carry out final minor amendments to the above Interim Reports, if required, prior to final publication due in December 2025. 2.4 Approves the proposed arrangements for publication of the Interim Reports. 3. Background/Context 3.1 The Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009 (the 2009 Act) has introduced a more modern, coordinated and sustainable approach to flood risk management at both national and local levels. 3.2 Although public authorities are expected to take a proactive role in managing and, where achievable, lowering flood risk, the primary responsibility for avoiding or managing flood risk remains with land and property owners. The 2009 Act does not alter this. Individuals, businesses and communities must, therefore, play a critical role in making themselves more resilient and helping to reduce the impact of flooding. 3.3 The 2009 Act sets out a framework designed to manage and reduce flood risk across Scotland over time. Local authorities, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and Scottish Water have duties to work together to produce a national risk assessment, flood risk and hazard maps, Flood Risk Management (FRM) Plans and Local FRM Plans. This process of risk assessment, mapping and planning is to be repeated in cycles every six years, with the initial cycles extending over the following dates: • Cycle 1: 2016-2022 • Cycle 2: 2022-2028 3.4 SEPA published the first cycle of FRM plans (or strategies) in December 2015. The Council published its first cycle of Local FRM Plans in June 2016 (Report No. 16/241 refers) and subsequently published an interim report in March 2019 (Report No. 19/16 refers), and final report setting out progress made in implementing the measures, along with a summary of any that were not implemented in December 2022 (Report No. 22/307 refers). The published Cycle 1 final report can be viewed on the Council’s website at www.pkc.gov.uk/frmplans. 3.5 SEPA published the second cycle of FRM Plans in December 2021. These documents cover the 14 local plan districts across the whole of Scotland. They describe the objectives and actions that will be implemented by SEPA and responsible authorities over the second six year cycle from 2022-2028.
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3.6 Perth & Kinross is located within four of these local plan districts, i.e. the Tay district (which covers the majority of Perth & Kinross) as well as parts of the Tay Estuary & Montrose Basin, the Forth and the Forth Estuary. 3.7 The Climate Change and Sustainability Committee of 19 December 2022 approved the content and publication of the second Local FRM Plans (and final report for Cycle 1) for the Tay, the Forth, the Forth Estuary and the Tay Estuary & Montrose Basin districts. (Report No. 22/307 refers). 4. Main Issues 4.1 Section 37 of the 2009 Act requires lead authorities to review their Local FRM Plan and publish an interim report on it around the mid point of the 6 year cycle i.e. within 2 to 3 years of publication (between December 2024 to December 2025). The interim report covers the conclusions of this review. It includes information on the progress that has been made towards addressing the measures identified in the implementation part of the plan. 4.2 As the lead authority for the Tay district, Perth and Kinross Council is required to publish this interim report. The Council also must contribute to the interim reports on the three other Local FRM Plans for the other districts noted at paragraph 3.6. These will be published by the appropriate lead authority. 4.3 The 2009 Act also requires the interim report be made available for public inspection. 5. Proposals 5.1 Public awareness, participation and community support are essential components of sustainable flood risk management. Public participation can not only raise awareness of flood risk, it can also inform decisions and contribute to the successful implementation of actions. The publication of an interim progress report near to the mid-point of the 6 year FRM cycle is, therefore, intended to assist with this. 5.2 The final draft interim reports have been developed in partnership with SEPA and the relevant responsible authorities. For the Tay District, this includes local authorities, and Scottish Water. Transport Scotland and the Scottish Flood Forum have also provided information. 5.3 The interim reports have been developed based on an agreed national template to ensure consistency. The documents are intended to be public facing and to provide a local perspective on flood risk management. 5.4 The published FRM Plans and Local FRM Plans contain both general actions which apply across the local plan district and actions that are specific to Potentially Vulnerable Areas (PVAs). The Cycle 2 Flood Risk Management Plan also introduced new Objective Target Areas (OTAs), which are located within the PVAs and should benefit from objectives and actions to manage risk.
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The published Local FRM Plans include delivery timescales for the selected actions. The interim reports, therefore, set out the progress made to date on delivering those actions as well as the measures planned to complete them. 5.5 Each action has been allocated a red, amber or green (RAG) status to provide an indication of its progress to date. Appendix 1 provides an overview of all Perth & Kinross Council actions with key issues summarised in paragraph 5.6. The RAG status definitions are: • Green – The action has been completed successfully or is progressing as planned. No immediate attention is required • Amber – The action is behind schedule or progressing slowly, but it is not critical. Some attention or action is required to get it back on track. • Red – The action is significantly behind schedule or has not started at all. 5.6 The introduction of the Flood Act has led to improved partnership working and data sharing between SEPA and the responsible authorities. The published Tay Local FRM Plan remains current and relevant. Since publication in December 2022 (Report No. 22/307 refers), in general, good progress has been made over the initial three years of the second cycle despite a significant response and resources required to support communities during flood events in October 2023 (PKC wide), May 2024 (Scone), and July 2025 (Perth). Flood studies have generally progressed as programmed, although an ongoing delay with the Scotland Excel procurement framework may impact projects due to start this financial year (Blair Atholl and Luncarty). Progress on the remaining Cycle 1 flood protection schemes have been delayed. The Comrie Flood Protection Scheme is currently onsite and programmed for completion in October 2026. The South Kinross Flood Protection Scheme is currently delayed as a result of objections during the publication of the scheme. The Milnathort scheme has been reduced in scale and cost and is currently at the consultation stage with works due to commence next year, and Scone flood protection scheme has been deferred to a future Cycle. The implementation of Cycle 2 flood protection schemes has been significantly affected by delays in capital funding availability and is still the subject of an ongoing review by The Scottish Government and CoSLA. It should be noted that the responsible authorities involved in delivering the actions for the Tay LPD are also involved in delivering actions in other local plan districts and their resources have to be split accordingly. 5.7 In order to finalise the interim reports, the other partners in each district are, therefore, arranging formal agreement in accordance with their respective governance arrangements. 5.8 The four interim reports are currently at a final draft stage and only require minor amendments prior to publication. The current draft Tay interim report is in Appendix 2.
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5.9 When completed, the final drafts of the Tay interim report and the Council’s input to the other interim reports will be made available on the following webpages: • Tay: https://www.pkc.gov.uk/frmplans • Tay Estuary & Montrose Basin: https://www.angus.gov.uk/the_environment/flooding_and_coastal_erosi on/tay_estuary_and_montrose_basin_local_flood_risk_management_pla n • Forth: https://www.stirling.gov.uk/emergencies-and-emergency- planning/flooding/flood-risk-management-plan/ • Forth Estuary: https://www.falkirk.gov.uk/policies-and- strategies/resilience-planning/flooding#flood-risk-management-planning Next Steps 5.10 As noted at 5.8, the interim reports are at a final draft stage and may still require further minor amendments prior to final publication. The amendments will mainly relate to the presentation of the final documents and will include any further progress updates prior to final publication. As such, the content (as presented in this report) will not substantially change prior to publication. 5.11 Publication is currently programmed for December 2025. 5.12 Following agreement from all other members of the Tay LPD Partnership, the final interim report for the Tay District will, therefore, be published on the Council’s website at this time. The proposed publicity surrounding this will be as follows: i.the Council’s website will be updated to include the final interim report for the Tay District and to provide links to the other relevant published interim reports. ii. a copy of the final interim report for the Tay District will be provided to SEPA and the Scottish Ministers. iii. notices will be placed in the Scotsman, the Courier, the Stirling Observer and the Edinburgh Gazette. iv.letters will be issued to each community council that falls within a PVA to notify them of the publication of the interim reports and how to access them. v.hard copies of the documents will also be made available in the Council’s Perth and Area Offices. vi.announcements will be posted on social media (the Perth & Kinross Council Facebook and X pages). vii. information will be sent to local community resilience groups within a PVA. viii. a briefing session will be provided for Council Elected Members. ix.any other publications which are considered appropriate. 5.13 It should be noted that it will not be possible to carry out all of the selected actions to manage flood risk within the resources available to the Council at this time.
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Although the interim reports will be published in December 2025, the implementation of the actions, thereafter, will continue to be based on a number of factors, including: priority; availability of funding; capacity within delivery bodies and third parties to develop the actions; coordination and agreements between partners; statutory processes and permissions; design or other preparatory time required. 5.14 The 2009 Act sets out a 6 year cycle between subsequent FRM Plans and Local FRM Plans. While SEPA and the responsible authorities are required to implement the actions set out in the current FRM Plans and local FRM Plans, the process of reviewing and updating the national flood risk assessment and flood maps, as well as producing the third cycle of FRM Plans and Local FRM Plans, has also re-commenced. 5.15 From January 2026, SEPA will be assessing and prioritising the actions to be funded in the third cycle of FRM Plans (2028-2034). Any studies and investigations that have not arrived at an identified solution by this time will not attract funding in the third cycle. This may result in certain communities being at an increased risk of flooding for longer. 5.16 Further public consultation will be carried out in 2026/27 during the development of the next FRM Plans and Local FRM Plans. 5.17 A final report on progress must also be published no later than 6 years after the Local FRM Plan is finalised, i.e. between December 2027 and December 2028. 5.18 The third cycle of Flood Risk Management Plans and Local Flood Risk Management Plans will be published in December 2027 and 2028 respectively. 6. Conclusion 6.1 This report provides an update on the publication of the Council’s interim reports on the Local Flood Risk Management Plans published in December 2022. 6.2 The report seeks the Committee’s approval of the content of the interim reports on the Local Flood Risk Management Plans for the Tay, Forth, Forth Estuary and Tay Estuary & Montrose Basin districts. 6.3 The report also seeks the Committee’s approval to allow officers to carry out final minor amendments to the presentation of the interim reports, prior to publication in December 2025. 7. Impact Value Assessment 7.1 This report has been classified as being an operational report and as such does not require a full Impact and Value Assessment.
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8. Appendices 8.1 Appendix 1 – Flood Risk Management Actions for Tay, Forth, Forth Estuary and TEAMB 8.2 Appendix 2 – Tay Local Plan District – Cycle 2 Interim Report (DRAFT)