As a country with limited direct experience of natural disasters, the UK has not developed a sophisticated legal and regulatory framework for the mitigation for many of the geological hazards, including landslides, which affect the population. Although the 1966 Aberfan disaster led to a limited amount of research into landslide distribution and mechanisms, it left no long-term legacy of managing landslide risks. A number of high-profile events in the late 20 th Century, and a series of 'near-misses' since then have failed to stimulate a significant social or economic awareness. Perhaps understandably, this has limited political motivation to develop landslide management policies. This paper examines this situation and discusses some implications of how landslides are dealt with by the UK government and devolved governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.Policy is based mainly upon national assessments of geohazards (including landslides) carried out in the 1980s and 1990s. These assessments provided the basis for planning policies and guidance that to some degree control development on or around unstable ground. Although this was an encouraging start, limited resources and political support over the longer term ultimately meant these initiatives failed to develop into an effective, integrated, national response to landslide hazards. Policies and regulations are open to interpretations which vary between devolved governments, building regulations and local planning offices.Crucially, the resulting system offers no framework for the legal or financial responsibilities for hazard management. As a result, landslide management in the UK has been influenced more by planning and political structure than actual risks to the population. This situation partially arises from the limited data available on the overall cost of landslides on a national basis. Until this situation is rectified it will be difficult to establish a mitigation strategy based on risk.This paper discusses how landslides are managed in the UK and provides examples from around the country of how the system responded to some serious landslides occurring over the last twenty years. Examples are presented that show how this framework has affected the investigation and mitigation of different types of landslides. The paper also briefly discusses the role of insurance in landslide hazard management and highlights the effective response of Transport Scotland in the aftermath of the debris flows in 2004.

The paper describes recent applications by the British Geological Survey (BGS) of the technique of mobile terrestrial LiDAR surveying to monitor various geomorphological changes on English coasts and estuaries. These include cliff recession, landslides and flood defences, and are usually sited at remote locations undergoing dynamic processes with no fixed reference points. Advantages, disadvantages and some practical problems are discussed. The role of GPS in laser scanning is described.

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The article presents a time series (2009-2013) analysis for a new version of the "Digital 14 Divide" concept that developed in the 1990s. Digital information technologies, such as the 15 Internet, mobile phones and social media, provide vast amounts of data for decision-making 16 and resource management. The Data Poverty Index (DPI) provides an open-source means of 17 annually evaluating global access to data and information. The DPI can be used to monitor 18 aspects of data and information availability at global and national levels, with potential 19 application at local (district) levels. Access to data and information is a major factor in 20 disaster risk reduction, increased resilience to disaster and improved adaptation to climate 21 change. In that context, the DPI could be a useful tool for monitoring the Sustainable 22 Development Goals of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015-2030). The 23 effects of severe data poverty, particularly limited access to geoinformatic data, free software 24 and online training materials, are discussed in the context of sustainable development and 25 disaster risk reduction. Unlike many other indices, the DPI is underpinned by datasets that are 26 consistently provided annually for almost all the countries of the world and can be 27 downloaded without restriction or cost. 28

In former mining areas it is critical to locate unknown, abandoned mineshafts prior to the development of a site. Abandoned mineshafts are ground disturbances that have very localised effects on the morphology, physical, chemical, drainage and moisture properties of the surface geological materials and thus thermophysical properties. Remotely sensed thermal infrared surveys provide the potential for a rapid, inexpensive and non-intrusive technique for mineshaft detection. The key parameters of thermal infra-red radiation and the application of remote thermal infra-red surveys to planning are described, using case histories from former mining areas in Lancashire, Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire. The thermal anomalies were associated with minor topographic features such as mounds, depressions, dereliction and also, compositional features caused by coal enrichment and coal-measures mudstone infill.These features had very little surface expression and were only confirmed using soil stripping.