Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to prevent the construction of inappropriate developments in flood risk areas.

Flood risk is an important consideration in the planning system and there are strict policy tests to protect people and property from flooding. The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) is clear that inappropriate development in areas at risk of flooding should be avoided. Where development is necessary, it should be made safe and resilient – and without increasing flood risk elsewhere. In July 2021 the NPPF was amended to make sure that all sources of flood risk need to be considered (including areas that are at risk of surface water flooding due to drainage problems), taking into account future flood risk, to ensure that any new development is safe for its lifetime without increasing the risk of flooding elsewhere.

Where a developer is proposing a development in a flood risk area, or where the development is of one hectare or more, they will need to submit a site-specific flood risk assessment with their planning application. This should identify all flood risks both to and from a development, and demonstrate how these risks will be managed.