SEPA reviews Potentially Vulnerable Areas in December 2024

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) reviewed and updated Scotland's Potentially Vulnerable Areas (PVAs) in December 2024, the agency has said. PVAs are defined by SEPA as "areas where the highest flood risk exists now or is likely to occur in the future"¹. The review is a requirement of the Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009, under which SEPA must review and update PVAs every six years; they were first identified in 2011 and updated in 2018¹.

The number of PVAs has risen from 235 catchment scale areas in 2018 to 452 community scale areas in 2024¹. SEPA said the change followed its review and "strong support in a public consultation", with PVAs now based on a community rather than a catchment scale¹. The agency said feedback from partners, stakeholders and the public had concluded that having both PVAs and target areas made the prioritisation of flood risk management actions unclear, and that community focused PVAs will now inform the next cycle of flood risk management plans, due to be published in 2027¹.

A full public consultation on the proposed PVAs was held between the 25th of March and the 25th of June 2024. SEPA received 410 responses, of which 331 came from members of the public¹. PVAs cover 90 per cent of the properties at risk of flooding in Scotland and are the areas where flood risk management actions are prioritised¹.

Each PVA has been attributed an influencing catchment, described by SEPA as the wider river catchment or coastal zone where river and coastal processes influence flood risk in the community PVA¹. SEPA said these are currently being reviewed and will be added to its data portal when available¹. For each PVA identified, SEPA will produce flood hazard and flood risk maps, set objectives and identify actions in consultation, local authorities will produce local flood risk management plans, and Scottish Water will assess the risk of flooding from the sewerage system¹.

Why it matters for households

SEPA states that not all properties within a community PVA will be affected by flooding, and that there are homes and businesses outside community PVAs which are at risk¹. The agency said that not being included in a community PVA does not mean the risk of flooding is insignificant to the individual or that support will not be provided by flood risk authorities, and that national flood risk management actions will still apply to people at risk outside the community PVAs¹. SEPA also said the presence of a past flood on its own is not sufficient to classify a community as a community PVA¹. Local flood risk management plans are published by the lead local authority for each Local Plan District, of which there are 14 covering the whole of Scotland¹. SEPA advises that people are the first line of defence against flooding and responsible for protecting themselves, their family, property and business; its published steps are to view SEPA's flood maps to check if an area is affected, sign up to Floodline for messages when flooding is forecast, and know who to contact if flooding happens¹. Further background is in our flooding hub.

What happens next

SEPA said the PVAs will be reviewed again in 2030¹. A comprehensive review and update of the National Flood Risk Assessment (NFRA), first published in December 2011 and last updated in 2018, is due to be published in 2025¹. The next cycle of flood risk management plans is due to be published in 2027¹.