Preliminary Flood Risk Assessment (PFRA)

The PFRA is a high level screening exercise to identify areas where there is significant flood risk in national terms for reporting to Europe (known as Flood Risk Areas). It covers the risk of flooding from local sources, namely Ordinary Watercourses, surface water (overland runoff) and groundwater. It does not directly consider flooding from main rivers, such as the Eden or Derwent.

The PFRA report looks at past flooding and where future flooding might occur across the county and the consequences that might have to people, properties and the environment, including cultural heritage and ecology. The PFRA has assessed if local data suggests that we should have a Flood Risk Area (that must meet the national significance threshold). The report will help us to develop our strategy to manage local flooding in Cumbria.

The Environment Agency provided guidance on how to prepare a PFRA and what to include. Each PFRA contains a core set of standard information.

The Preliminary Flood Risk Assessment (PFRA) includes a:

• summary of information on significant historic floods from a 'local' source (i.e not flooding from Main Rivers or the sea)
• summary of information on future flood risks based primarily on the Environment Agency's national datasets
• spreadsheet containing information for reporting to the European Commission

For more information, read planning stages to manage flood risk (GOV.UK)