Legislation and purpose

Climate change is a factor in causing flooding and other extreme weather. Projections include a shift in the seasonality of rainfall. This may lead to hotter, drier summers and wetter winters, with more extreme events such as heavy rainfall, which can lead to flooding.

As a result of the widespread flooding incidents in 2007, new legislation was developed to combat the growing risk of flooding in the UK. This legislation is called the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 and it sets out a number of duties to councils. Below is a list of central government legislation:

St Helens Borough Council is a Lead Local Flood Authority, which means we have the duty and responsibility to manage and reduce flood risk from local sources under the Flood and Water Management Act 2010. A multi-agency team responds to flooding within our borough. This includes some council teams, the Environment Agency, United Utilities and the emergency services. Please also refer to our Lead Local Flood Water Management Strategy, which sets out the management of water locally. This can be found on the Flooding information documents webpage.

If you live in an area identified at risk of surface water or river flooding, you are at risk of flooding, regardless of whether you have never flooded before or have flooded recently. The government advice, for all property owners in flood risk areas, is to install flood resilience products in advance of flooding, create a flood plan and sign up to receive flood alerts.