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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will reassess the potential merits of making sustainable drainage systems compulsory in new housing developments at risk from flooding.

The National Planning Policy Framework sets out that inappropriate development in areas at risk of flooding should be avoided and directed away from areas at highest risk. If new homes are necessary in a flood risk area, and no suitable sites at lower risk are available, the local authority should ensure that the development will be safe and will not increase flood risk elsewhere, and include sustainable drainage systems where appropriate.

Additionally, developers must comply with the Building Regulations which give priority to sustainable drainage systems in their hierarchy of arrangements for dealing with rainwater draining from roofs and paving giving access to the building.

We are reviewing our policy for building in areas at flood risk. This will seek to ensure that communities across the country know that future development will be safe from floods. We will assess whether current protections in the National Planning Policy Framework are enough and consider options for further reform.