We have recently implemented our SFRA after consultants completed the necessary stages. An area of concern has arisen in the fact that after all of this money has been spent on producing it and the EA have approved the final document, the EA are decidedly sketchy about how it should be used. In particular there is growing inconsistency within the EA about how they themselves use SFRAs - some say that they are not used to update the EA zones, others (including at Conferences) state that they are, however it may take some time etc. This is particularly confusing as surely it is improving what data the EA already have, and along with countless FRAs that disprove a site is in a higher risk zone, updated information is being lost and the EA zones remain the same. Through this delivers frustration in that DC officers have to rely on the EA zones first of all (including for use on the automated GIS) and then flick to the SFRA layers for further guidance. Can we just use the one group of layers once and for all? Perhaps the EA need to get a system in place where they can update their zones quicker and without intrepedation?!
