Background to the Hawick Flood Protection Scheme

Hawick has an unenviable record when it comes to flooding.  The town has experienced damaging flood events stretching back many centuries. The River Teviot flowing through the town has burst its banks on at least 15 occasions in recorded history, posing risk to life and property.

In recent years, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), through its Local Flood Risk Management Plan, identified Hawick as being at severe risk of further flood events in the future and put the town on its priority list for action to be taken to reduce the risk.

Acceptance of the need for action grew after the particularly bad floods of October 2005.  Scottish Borders Council (SBC) initiated a series of studies into the flood risks affecting the town from the River Teviot and the Slitrig Water which runs into the Teviot in the centre of Hawick. This culminated in 2013 when SBC commissioned a full-scale survey as a means of setting out various mitigation measures to be implemented as soon as practicable.  At the same time, SBC set out 20 criteria which must be met by the design and construction of any flood protection measures approved.  These covered a number of potential impacts on the town, including economic, environmental and social. 

The survey closely examined over 50 separate flood protection options for the different areas of the town, considering the merits and disadvantages of the various proposals against the Council’s criteria.  Through the process, options were refined using technical, economic and environmental assessments and taking into account factors such as cost-benefit, practicability, environmental impact, stakeholder consultation and, importantly,  feedback from the general public.  

The aim is to provide Hawick with modern, effective and environmentally friendly flood defences which fully address the risks facing the town and are capable of protecting local people, properties and businesses for many years to come.

The proposed Scheme was approved under the Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009.   It comprises a variety of flood risk reduction measures, including new flood walls and embankments, drainage improvements, underground pumping stations and the replacement and raising of three of the town’s important footbridges.  Funding is coming from various bodies, including the Scottish Government, SBC, SUSTRANS and Scottish Water.

By any standards, what is proposed is a major and complex civil engineering project, one of the biggest ever undertaken in the Scottish Borders.   One of the largest flod protection schemes ever undertaken in Scotland, it will become a benchmark for other flood protection schemes destined to be carried out in various parts of the UK over the next few years.