Flood Risk Areas: UK Environment Agency Data for Planning

UK Environment Agency data identifies locations believed to have significant flood risk, as defined under the EU Floods Directive. The dataset includes Flood Risk Areas for both Cycle 1 (December 2011) and Cycle 2 (December 2018), covering main rivers, the sea, and surface water. It is designed for broad planning purposes to meet obligations under the directive.

Use Cases

• Identify areas requiring flood hazard and risk maps based on designated Flood Risk Areas.
• Assess changes in flood risk designation between Cycle 1 (2011) and Cycle 2 (2018) cycles.
• Support strategic planning for flood risk management plans as required by the EU Floods Directive.
• Analyze spatial distribution of significant flood risk from main rivers, the sea, and surface water sources.

Strengths

• Includes data from two distinct assessment cycles (December 2011 and December 2018), allowing for temporal comparison.
• Defined by authoritative bodies: Environment Agency for main rivers and the sea, and Lead Local Flood Authorities for surface water.
• Designed to meet specific regulatory obligations under the EU Floods Directive.

Limitations

• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Other sources of flooding beyond main rivers, the sea, and surface water are not covered.

Provenance

Source

Environment Agency

Collection Method

Defined by the Environment Agency and Lead Local Flood Authorities using criteria explained in supporting guidance.

Time Range

Cycle 1 (December 2011) and Cycle 2 (December 2018)

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-24 13:06:45.334474; freshness should be verified.

Geography

United Kingdom