| Open Consultations | Date Closes |
|---|---|
| River basin management planning in Scotland: statement of consultation steps for the third plans | 22 Dec 2018 |
| Working together - Statement of consultation steps for the Solway Tweed river basin district | 22 Dec 2018 |
| See All Open Consultations | |
Here are some of the issues we have consulted on and their outcomes. See all outcomes
To help direct efforts to reduce flood risk, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) identifies local catchments where significant risk exists now or is likely to occur in the future. These are Potentially Vulnerable Areas which require the production of flood risk management plans coordinating the activity of Responsible Authorities in reducing flood risk. Scottish Ministers formally designate Potentially Vulnerable Areas, based on the advice of SEPA and its consultation with partners and the public.
New information has led to changes to the Potentially Vulnerable Areas which we first identified in 2011. We have consulted on these, and the method behind their identification, to make sure that we got it right.
We recieved general agreement from respondents on our proposals for new Potentially Vulnerable Areas. Respondents who disagreed with our proposals generally felt that the proposed Potentially Vulnerable Areas were too broad and included areas not at risk. Respondents also provided suggestions for new areas that they felt should be included.
We also received a good level of support for the Nationanl Flood Risk Assessment, the retention of the 14 Local Plan Districts across Scotland, and for the planned consultaiton arrangements for the period 2018-2021.
In taking account of the views received SEPA is proposing to amend one of the Potentially Vulnerable Areas that we consulted on and identified two additional Potentially Vulnerable Areas. The new areas identified are Kirkmichael (South Ayrshire Council) and Beauly (Highlands Council) while the Potentially Vulnerable Area being amended is South Uist to include Baleshare (Comhairle nan Eilean Siar). SEPA has already undertaken a number of actions based on information and responses provided during the consultation, such as discussing these with relevant local authorities. We will continue to engage with our stakeholders and ensure working together is central to improving flood risk management in Scotland. Information provided on local flooding and other issues will be discussed with local authorities as appropriate. No changes have been made to the Local Plan District proposals or the Statement on Consultation Arrangements as a result of feedback received.
In February 2016, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, the Environment Agency, and Natural Resources Wales (together referred to as “the environment agencies”) consulted on proposed new guidance on “Requirements for Release of Nuclear Sites from Radioactive Substances Regulation” (for full details of the original consultation, please see the text against the grey background in the section beginning with "Overview" below).
We received comments from 22 organisations and individuals.
These comments generally supported the environment agencies’ approach.
Respondents also provided many suggestions for improving the detailed text of our guidance.
We analysed the consultation comments we received, and produced a report on how we planned to act on these comments (available in the Files section below).
We also carried out a two-year period of trial-use at three different sites:
A number of themes emerged from the consultation comments, and the learning from the trial-use period, which prompted us to improve the structure and clarity of our guidance.
However, we did not identify the need for any substantive changes to our approach.
We have now published our new guidance entitled “Management of radioactive waste from decommissioning of nuclear sites: Guidance on Requirements for Release from Radioactive Substances Regulation”, also known as the GRR. The full text of the GRR is available from:
https://www.sepa.org.uk/regulations/radioactive-substances/nuclear-industry
We have also published a brief non-technical summary of the GRR, which is available from:
https://www.sepa.org.uk/regulations/radioactive-substances/nuclear-industry