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The £31.4 million Selkirk Flood Scheme was opened yesterday with the following summary posted by the Scottish Government:
750 residential homes and 120 businesses across 600 properties are now protected
- 3.1km flood embankments and 3.4km flood protection walls have been built
- St Mary’s Loch has been expanded to store 620 Olympic swimming pools of water.
- Scottish Government is providing 80% of the funding for the £31.4 million project
- Every year £42 million is allocated to flood prevention by the Scottish Government
Remember this is ongoing additional investment in a country with an already high standard of building regulations, compared to England, designed to minimise the risk of flooding, and this is a government maintaining the level of spending on flood prevention schemes unlike the Tory government in England. Further schemes, such as those in Renfrew and Brechin, have already been finished and a £36 million scheme in Hawick has begun development.
Back in October 2016, I quoted this from the English College of Estates Management research report:
‘As far as flood protection is concerned, unlike in England, the 1 in 200 year standard of protection is ‘universal’ for all new buildings, with a 1,000 year standard for such vulnerable uses as old people’s homes, schools, hospitals etc.. In addition, construction in flood hazard areas has almost completely ended. Crichton (2003: 26) estimates that “the active flood management programme currently in progress will result in almost all high risk properties being protected against the 200-year flood within the next three years, taking climate change into account.” It is also interesting to note that the Scottish Executive grants for flood defences have never been refused on the grounds of budget restraints and there is no rationing of flood defence spending. It is clear, however, that the more stringent building standards which are applied in Scotland ensure that severe storms result in much less property damage than comparable events in England. Also the level of flood protection and the commitment of funding to achieve flood protection are higher in Scotland than in England.’
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Talking-up Scotland 