Climate change and flooding

Climate change

Tackling climate change is essential if Scotland is to achieve sustainable economic growth. The planning system has a key role in helping to mitigate the causes of climate change and to adapt to its impacts.

Climate change can result in rising sea levels, local flooding events and higher heatwave temperatures and these can damage houses, bridges, roads and railways. To help tackle climate change, planners and developers need to make the right choices now. Woodlands, for example, take decades to grow and we need to think what sort of planting and management now will provide the green spaces of the future as a basis for sustainable growth and making places where people can lead healthy lives.

Scottish Natural Heritage, Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Forestry Commission Scotland and Historic Scotland are all government bodies with responsibilities for different aspects of Scotland's environment and heritage. We have published a joint statement on climate change  .

Find out more about SNH's approach to climate change.

Catchment management and flooding

New development can have significant implications for the good management of river catchments. Planning Authorities must take the probability of flooding into account when preparing development plans and determining planning applications. Prospective developers should account for the risk of flooding before committing themselves to a site or project.

The Scottish Environmental Protection Agency  leads on water quality issues and provides advice to local authorities on flood risk for planning purposes, and advice on flood prevention. Their website contains further information on Catchment Management Plans, Sustainable Urban Drainage Schemes, River Basin Planning and flood risk.