Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

This is a qualitative data collection. This research asked whether the emergence of neoliberal thinking might help explain the contemporary policy approaches to flood risk management. Whilst it may be tempting, to ask how neoliberal policy might affect this sector, the research soon discovered that its influences were pervasive, evident in the privatisation and the contracting out of water and sewerage functions, the re-working of regulatory expertise and changes to local government services. One key outcome of these processes has been a shift away from retaining local knowledge and the build-up of local expertise in favour of alternative forms of management procedures, contracting in technical expertise to achieve flexibility and cost effectiveness. The research revealed conflicting views about whether flood risk knowledge was improving - whilst improvements were clear at the catchment level, the evidence is more mixed at the local level. The other major finding of the research was the level of "uncertainty about uncertainty", in particular in terms of how experts communicated ideas about flood risk through maps and standards such as protecting against 1:100 year flood risk. Adding further complexity was uncertainty around climate change and how this was shaping policy to protect against future flood risk. Digging deeper, it became clear that some protection standards were based on historical professional precedent and only selectively reviewed. With the rise of surface water flooding incidents, where design standards are to protect against 1:30 year events, it may be time to reconsider the current standards.

Purposive selection/case studies

Face-to-face interview