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

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the potential merits giving flood risk authorities a statutory right of veto on a development until such time as a suitable technical solution to that flood risk is advanced.

Planning law requires that applications for planning permission be determined in accordance with the local development plan, subject to other material considerations. These considerations include advice received from statutory consultees, as well as the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). The local planning authority must take into account and weigh up all the material planning considerations in reaching its decision.

The NPPF is clear that inappropriate development in areas at risk of flooding should be avoided. Where development is necessary, it should be made safe for its lifetime without increasing flood risk elsewhere.

As part of the planning determination process, we expect local planning authorities to take flood risk advice from the Environment Agency and lead local flood authority seriously. Statutory consultees do not have a veto on new development. It is for the local planning authority, which is democratically accountable to the local electorate, to take planning decisions on development in its area. As an added safeguard, where a local planning authority is minded to approve a planning application for major development in a flood risk area against an outstanding Environment Agency objection on flood risk grounds, that application must first be referred to the Secretary of State to consider whether it should be called-in.

Furthermore, as part of our wider ambitions for an improved planning system we intend to review the National Planning Policy Framework to ensure that it contributes to climate change mitigation and adaption as fully as possible.