Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of using closed mineral extraction sites to aid flood alleviation, rather than infilling with waste.

The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) requires that planning authorities should provide for restoration and aftercare of mineral sites at the earliest opportunity to be carried out to high environmental standards. This should include, through provision of a landscape strategy, restoration conditions and aftercare schemes as appropriate.

Responsibility for the restoration and aftercare of mineral sites, including financial responsibility, lies with the mineral site operator and, in the case of default, with the landowner.

A revised NPPF was published in December 2024. The government will consider whether further changes are necessary to manage flood risk when we consult on planning reform, including national policy related to decision making.