Using Science to Create a Better Place: Addressing Environmental Inequalities: Flood Risk. Science Report: SC020061/SR1

Addressing environmental inequalities is a major theme of the UK Sustainable Development Strategy and one of the three principles of the Environment Agency’s social policy. Understanding more about the inequalities which arise in exposure to flood risk and in the experience of flood events, and developing ways of addressing these inequalities, are important in managing the risk of flooding to people and communities.
Aims of the project
The main aims of this Environment Agency science project were to:
• help the Environment Agency understand the social impacts of flooding and
the policy context for addressing them;
• examine how flood risk is distributed in relation to patterns of social deprivation
in England;
• recommend the most effective ways of addressing inequalities in relation to
flooding.
Methodology
A review of the literature on the social impacts of flooding and policy measures relevant to flood risk and environmental inequalities was undertaken. This was
supported by a two-day interactive workshop held with stakeholders from within and outside the Environment Agency to discuss the social impacts of flooding. Finally, a GIS-based data analysis using the Environment Agency’s Flood Map 2004 was carried out to examine the deprivation characteristics of populations living within and outside the delineated risk areas in England and the English regions.