Flood protection measures competing with other spatial planning needs
One of the aims of the ALFA project is to develop and test spatial planning tools designed to reduce the damage potential of flooding, known as “adapted land use”. All of the partners work on practical retention measures, partly for floods in emergency situations, with return intervals of less than 200 years. The regional ALFA projects are not exclusively dedicated to storing water but to allow for multifunctional land use and create acceptance among land owners and residents.
An important aspect in the work of the ALFA partners is the EU Floods Directive that establishes a framework for the assessment and management of flood risks. The Directive aims to reduce the adverse consequences for human health, the environment, cultural heritage and economic activity and came into force in October 2007 (parallel to the submission of the ALFA application to the INTERREG IVB funding programme).
During an exchange workshop in June 2010 the ALFA partners compared their national and regional approaches to the implementation of the EU Floods Directive in relation to spatial planning tools. This thematic workshop was held in Essen (Germany) and was organised by the Emschergenossenschaft.
A few of the observations resulting from the discussions are given below:
• In all ALFA partner countries the competent authorities for spatial planning, on the one hand, and for flood protection, on the other, are established in different administrations – from the top level of the ministries down to the local municipalities.
• Flood protection is very much driven by water management interests. Spatial planning, however, is tasked with balancing interests but is often driven by demands relating to construction (or physical development). It should be noted that, on an operational level, there is rarely any cooperation between water management and spatial planning.
• In their day-to-day work, water managers often find that their aims are perceived as detrimental to other interests, such as agriculture, settlements, industry and cultural heritage. Although flood protection aims to reduce the damage potential of other land uses, the impression is sometimes given that flood protection itself poses a threat to these other functions.
The exchange workshop allows the ALFA partners to move towards a better understanding and engage in the joint development of spatial planning tools which balance interests between land use demands and flood prevention aims. Some ALFA partners may be more experienced than others or may have intensive work planned in this field and the expertise of these partners is, thus, used as “best practise”. For example, in 2006 the Dutch government passed a “national spatial planning key decision” for 39 locations where flood prevention areas are now being established. One of those locations is the ‘Overdiepsche Polder’ which is funded under the ALFA project. In the German Rhine catchment, the Hördt retention area had already been labelled as an ideal “emergency polder” in the Rhineland-Palatinate spatial planning programme from 2008. The Hördter Rheinaue project is now being implemented through ALFA funding, allowing for an innovative ecological flooding concept in the designated area.
Although ALFA partners have quite different experiences and expertise in spatial planning tools, all of them need flood protection to go hand in hand with other, competing, land use demands.
Picture: participants of workshop in Essen (DE), June 2010 – photographer Walter Kretschmer
One of the aims of the ALFA project is to develop and test spatial planning tools designed to reduce the damage potential of flooding, known as “adapted land use”. All of the partners work on practical retention measures, partly for floods in emergency situations, with return intervals of less than 200 years. The regional ALFA projects are not exclusively dedicated to storing water but to allow for multifunctional land use and create acceptance among land owners and residents.
An important aspect in the work of the ALFA partners is the EU Floods Directive that establishes a framework for the assessment and management of flood risks. The Directive aims to reduce the adverse consequences for human health, the environment, cultural heritage and economic activity and came into force in October 2007 (parallel to the submission of the ALFA application to the INTERREG IVB funding programme).
During an exchange workshop in June 2010 the ALFA partners compared their national and regional approaches to the implementation of the EU Floods Directive in relation to spatial planning tools. This thematic workshop was held in Essen (Germany) and was organised by the Emschergenossenschaft.
A few of the observations resulting from the discussions are given below:
• In all ALFA partner countries the competent authorities for spatial planning, on the one hand, and for flood protection, on the other, are established in different administrations – from the top level of the ministries down to the local municipalities.
• Flood protection is very much driven by water management interests. Spatial planning, however, is tasked with balancing interests but is often driven by demands relating to construction (or physical development). It should be noted that, on an operational level, there is rarely any cooperation between water management and spatial planning.
• In their day-to-day work, water managers often find that their aims are perceived as detrimental to other interests, such as agriculture, settlements, industry and cultural heritage. Although flood protection aims to reduce the damage potential of other land uses, the impression is sometimes given that flood protection itself poses a threat to these other functions.
The exchange workshop allows the ALFA partners to move towards a better understanding and engage in the joint development of spatial planning tools which balance interests between land use demands and flood prevention aims. Some ALFA partners may be more experienced than others or may have intensive work planned in this field and the expertise of these partners is, thus, used as “best practise”. For example, in 2006 the Dutch government passed a “national spatial planning key decision” for 39 locations where flood prevention areas are now being established. One of those locations is the ‘Overdiepsche Polder’ which is funded under the ALFA project. In the German Rhine catchment, the Hördt retention area had already been labelled as an ideal “emergency polder” in the Rhineland-Palatinate spatial planning programme from 2008. The Hördter Rheinaue project is now being implemented through ALFA funding, allowing for an innovative ecological flooding concept in the designated area.
Although ALFA partners have quite different experiences and expertise in spatial planning tools, all of them need flood protection to go hand in hand with other, competing, land use demands.
Picture: participants of workshop in Essen (DE), June 2010 – photographer Walter Kretschmer
