Worcestershire climate impact profile coincides with summer floods
September 2009
In 2004 the Worcestershire Partnership commissioned a study into the impacts of climate change for the county as part of the work towards delivering the Climate Change Strategy (pdf, 990 KB). Although this provided a comprehensive assessment of the predicted implications of climate change, the report was not used as widely as hoped. A Local Climate Impacts Profile (LCLIP) was therefore seen as a way of providing a greater understanding of short-term implications of weather events on services in the context of climate predictions.
Worcestershire County Council employed a Geography (BSc) Graduate for 12 weeks to produce a report about how County Council services have been affected by weather events since 1997.
One thing the County Council was unable to predict was that the initial media trawl began the week before the 2007 summer flooding. This hindered the interview process as information could not be gained from each service area. However the project did uncover a lack of records detailing the impacts of previous severe weather events.
Although the summer flooding of 2007 led to problems arranging interviews in a number of cases, on a positive side it allowed for the collection of vast amounts of information regarding the impacts of the flooding. Many service areas were inundated during the clear up and partner organisations were approached for their feedback on how their service delivery had been affected.
The lack of records was overcome by approaching financial services for insurance claim information. This outlined the public liability costs incurred by the Council which were directly associated with weather events and highlighted the most costly weather events. The project did not include precise weather data but allowed scope for data from the Central England Temperature Record to be included at a later date.
By comparing the events found through local media sources with insurance claims in financial records the Council discovered that not all weather events were reported by local newspapers and the exact dates of weather events were not always available.
The initial body of research relied on local media stories to identify significant weather events that have occurred across Worcestershire. This information was logged into a database under headings including the date the story was printed, the type of event and the relevant council departments thought to have been affected. In most cases these stories were accessed through online archives.
With these incidents as a base, members of staff were approached for their views about how the weather had affected their service delivery. Sets of questions were sent to a member of each service identified. Questions based around damage to service delivery, reputation damage and immediate and longer-term responses were included. Staff members were then interviewed directly. Being given the opportunity to discuss service areas with relevant staff meant a clearer explanation of the project could be provided and a greater understanding of how the service responded to the event could be obtained.
Further information relating to other organisations such as the Environment Agency, Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service and the NHS was obtained. This allowed for a greater understanding of operational impacts for the wider area that ultimately could influence some of the County Councils work.
Worcestershire’s LCLIP has been used as an awareness raising tool within the County Council. The findings have highlighted Worcestershire’s current vulnerabilities to current extreme weather events. With climate projections suggesting an increased frequency and intensity of such weather events we can expect greater service disruption and rising costs unless adaptive measures are taken.
The findings from the study also provided data in support of the request to include NI 188 in the Local Area Agreement and contributed to work produced by the County Council planning department; a technical research paper titled Planning for climate change in Worcestershire. Further benefits from the production of the LCLIP was the development of links between the sustainability team and emergency planning as well as building on work with the district councils.
The research was also considered to be a good base point for Worcestershire to start meeting targets for National Indicator 188, planning to adapt to climate change. Through the Local Area Agreement, Worcestershire County Council is targeting level three of this indicator by 2011 for which climate change risks need to be identified.
The intention is that the Worcestershire LCLIP will be continually updated with impact information when it is available. Each directorate will now be required to carry out a climate change risk assessment for their service as part of their business continuity plans, further aiding adaptation plans.
- For further information contact: Heather Lammas, Assistant Sustainability Officer
