Other Settlement CLIMATE RISK

Cairston Flood Risk Data

Cairston is a settlement, part of the Orkney Islands council area. The settlement runs to the UK coastline. LocalRisk has flood, heat, air and ground-stability data for 141 postcodes in Cairston; 12 samples are linked at the foot of this page.

11.3% of postcodes in Cairston fall into SEPA's high flood-risk band - slightly above the UK average of about 7%. The band reflects the highest flood risk within each postcode; some properties may face little or no direct flood risk. A further 4.3% sit in the medium band; 84.4% are lower-risk. Across the wider Orkney Islands council area the figure is 17.8%, so Cairston runs lower than its parent council. Two postcodes a few streets apart can land in different bands; what drives the gap is elevation, distance to the nearest watercourse, and how the surrounding drainage performs in heavy rain. The postcode list at the foot of this page links to the full address-level reading for each postcode in Cairston.

Annual mean PM2.5 across the Orkney Islands area is 3.6 µg/m³ - close to the World Health Organisation guideline of 5 µg/m³. Within Cairston, readings are not flat: postcodes within 200 metres of an A-road or major junction routinely run 30-50% higher during weekday rush hours than residential streets two roads back. The figure is a council-level Defra UK-AIR estimate (1km modelled grid).

Ground stability in Cairston follows the underlying geology more than the postal boundary. The British Geological Survey GeoSure dataset maps clay shrink-swell risk on a 50-metre cell, and properties on the same street can sit in different bands where a clay seam ends mid-road. Pre-1980 housing on clay-rich ground is the most exposed; properties on bedrock or well-drained sandy soils are typically lower-risk. A postcode-level check picks up that variation.

A free postcode check on LocalRisk covers up to six hazards for any address in Cairston: SEPA flood mapping, BGS ground stability, Met Office heat projections, Defra PM2.5, plus coastal erosion and green-space access where relevant. The postcode list below opens an address-level report for each postcode in Cairston; the council link at the top of this page returns to the wider Orkney Islands picture.