Planning guidance revised for flood risk developments

The terms on which flood risk is assessed in the planning system has been updated in the Planning Practice Guidance (PPG). This framework should reflect national and local planning policies and provides a useful guide on a range of topics, including green belt/grey belt land, and represent a material consideration in planning decisions. The flood risk guidance and specifically the ‘sequential test’ seeks to steer development away from areas with a flood risk. Specifically, it aims to manoeuvre development towards areas with a lower flood risk and includes a requirement to look at alternative sites.

The PPG was amended in September and is a clear example of a shift to making the planning system more pragmatic, limiting ambiguities and improving proportionality. With the rules being less rigid than they were before, it means that proposals for environmental offsetting, in an area at risk from flooding (flood zones 2 or 3), will no longer be held up by requirements for additional information and scrutiny. The updated guidance for river and coastal flooding can be found here.

To find out if your site is located in an area at risk from flooding, you can search the Environment Agency’s map here. This map provides a strong indication of flood risk but its accuracy cannot be guaranteed. Depending on the nature and scale of the development, a flood risk assessment may need to form part of any planning application.

If there is no flood risk on the site, or if the risk that has been identified can be dealt with by design and mitigation measures (such as sustainable drainage or flood-alleviation ponds) then development should be looked upon favourably. If there is a flood risk on the site then a sequential test is required. This test often requires a specialist consultant and considers all sources of flood risk and the potential impacts of climate change. The assessment will seek to prioritises development in Flood Zone 1 (areas with the lowest flood risk), followed by Flood Zone 2 (medium risk), and only considers Flood Zone 3 (high risk) if no reasonably available sites exist in the lower-risk zones. This process could involve consideration of sites for development with different owners. The extent of this search is limited to "the specific area of a town or city in which the proposal is located, or beyond an individual village and its immediate neighbouring settlements". The test applies to those development sites that are located within the flood zone and are subject to a planning application but also applies to the local plan making process, ensuring that development is directed to the safest locations possible.

The amended PPG provides clarification on the requirement for sequential tests and what reasonably available sites are in relation to flood risk. As expected, the planning system seeks to channel development away from areas with a flood risk. But it hasn’t always been clear as what is considered to be reasonably available and how alternatives should be viewed.

The below extract from the amended PPG is useful to consider:

‘Where a site-specific flood risk assessment demonstrates clearly that the proposed layout, design, and mitigation measures would ensure that occupiers and users would remain safe from current and future surface water flood risk for the lifetime of the development (therefore addressing the risks identified e.g. by Environment Agency flood risk mapping), without increasing flood risk elsewhere, then the sequential test need not be applied.

‘The absence of a five-year housing land supply is not a relevant consideration in applying the sequential test for individual applications. However, housing considerations, including housing land supply, may be relevant in the planning balance, alongside the outcome of the sequential test.’

We recommend that members considering development ensure that they are aware of the latest policies, including the guidance surrounding them (the PPG) to ensure that any proposed development complies with up-to-date policy. This ensures that the relevant reports and surveys are included within an application to not only save time at validation stage, but also maximise the chances of planning success.

The CLA is able to advise on these up-to-date policies and provide planning advice to members on these matters. Contact us here for more information.