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Flood risk duties

The Flood Risk Regulations 2009 implement the EU Flood Directive in England. They provide a framework for managing flood risk over a 6 year cycle, and require:

  • production of a Preliminary Flood Risk Assessment (PFRA)
  • identification of potential significant risk, referred to as flood risk areas (FRAs)
  • mapping of flood hazard and risk
  • Flood Risk Management Plans, setting out measures and actions to reduce the risk.

The Regulations require that each of the four elements identified above be reviewed and updated where necessary, at least every six years.

Preliminary Flood Risk Assessment (PFRA)

A PFRA is a high level screening to determine whether there is a local flood risk within the borough based on past and future flood risk data.

The PFRA report (May 2011) is available to download, however due to file size restrictions the version of the report excludes some of the maps. You can view copies of the reports and associated maps at the Council's planning office or we can provide a CD at a cost of £20. Please contact us in advance to arrange this.

A review of the PFRA was required by the Flood Risk Regulations in 2017. This was submitted to the Environment Agency who approved the review and is available on GOV.UK; Bury's preliminary flood risk assessment (2017).

Flood hazard maps and flood risk maps

The Council worked with the Environment Agency to assess flood risk areas and provide flood hazard maps to show the extent, direction, speed and likelihood of possible flood events, as required by the Regulations. The flood risk maps show what is at risk of flooding such as people, economic activity and natural and historic areas of environmental importance. This information is presented at the River Basin District scale available from the Environment Agency.

Flood risk management plans

The first cycle of Flood Risk Management Plans have been developed jointly by Risk Management Authorities. These plans describe the risk of flooding from rivers, the sea, surface water, groundwater and reservoirs; and they do so at a river basin and catchment scale. The plans set out how Risk Management Authorities will work together, and with communities, to manage flood and coastal risk between 2021 and 2027. This includes measures and actions to manage the risk and improve resilience.

View the strategic flood risk management and framework plans on the Greater Manchester Combined Authority website.