A river floodplain forms where a watercourse, meandering over a relatively flat area, floods naturally at times of high water level. The river sediment deposited on the flooded area creates a mosaic of wash lands, dry lands and wetlands. The meanderings of the river over time and the general topography within the river valley determine the shape of the overall floodplain. Commonly a meandering river creates a high bank on one side of each bend (by erosion) while it floods and thus deposits sediment on the other side of each bend. As a result, the floodplain of a meandering river commonly occupies areas of land on alternate sides of the watercourse. Where this is the case, each part of the river floodplain is a discrete area of land, defined by the river on one side and the rising slope of the river valley sides behind the area subject to flooding on the other.
If such a 'discrete area' of floodplain is occupied only by the business applying to RDC-RP, then only that business's land will be affected if any obstacle to natural flooding is removed from that section of river. If the area prone to flooding is occupied by more than one business then a collaborative approach to floodplain management is essential.
That is why the guidance states that: "a proposal for flood management will not be approved unless either the flood plain is a discrete area, all of which is occupied by yourself, or if all other landowners of the affected land are proposing to adopt this Option. A collaborative approach is essential where the flood plain is not covered by one discrete area and more than one occupier or landowner manages the flood plain." This is entirely consistent with the eligibility statement: "a site that forms all or part of a flood plain that may flood without adversely affecting other agricultural land." Where the single area prone to flooding spans both sides of the meandering river and each bank is occupied by a different business then we would need to see "all the landowners of the affected land proposing to adopt this Option".
Please note that the SEPA Flood Maps were produced to support national planning policy on development & flood risk and so considers floods of significant return period (i.e. 100-, 200- and 1000-year return periods). For the purposes of Rural Priorities floodplain management we are looking at the maximum extent of flooding events within a much shorter (say a 2 to 5 year) period. As the SEPA Flood Maps show the possible maximum extent of flooding within a 100-year (or longer) period, these should not be used to define areas to be managed under the Rural Priorities Management of Flood Plains option. Local knowledge will be key when the applicant is assessing the common extent of flooding events within the last 2 to 5 years.