Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if her Department will make an estimate of the number of houses built in areas highlighted the NaFRA2 flood zone data as having a high (a) current and (b) future likelihood of surface water flooding in Bedfordshire in the past ten years.

The revised National Planning Policy Framework that was published on 12 December 2024 is clear that new housing, and most other forms of development, should not be permitted in functional flood plains.

Estimates have not been made of the number of homes which might, exceptionally, be built in areas at risk of flooding. However, development proposals would have to pass robust tests in order to proceed in such locations.