Scotland’s councils have enough money for flood prevention, says John Swinney

Labour has called for an urgent review of flood defences backed by additional funding in the wake of the widespread flooding seen throughout Scotland this winter.

But John Swinney said the Scottish Government has already done that, with 42 flood prevention schemes identified in December backed by council funding to “adequately provide for all of them”.

The Scottish Flood Forecasting Service has been “fully protected in entirety” despite a 6% cut in funding at its provider the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa), he said.

But he said it is up to councils, not Sepa, to provide flood prevention in their areas as part of the financial settlement provided by the Scottish Government.

Earlier, Scottish Labour environmental justice spokeswoman Sarah Boyack said: “There needs to be an urgent review by all local authorities of their flood defences and the SNP Government will need to make good on the promise made by the First Minister to provide extra financial resources where they are needed.”

Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme, Mr Swinney said: “The answer is that we have done that.

“We passed the Flood Management Act in 2009 in Parliament, and one of the requirements for us was to produce flood risk management strategies around the country.

“We now have 14 of them, just published in December by Sepa.

“These are about forward plans, and out of those strategies there are 42 flood prevention schemes that are being proposed over the period 2016-21 which will cost an estimated £235 million.

“There is funding in the local government settlement for the years going forward to adequately provide for all of those funding schemes.”