Reducing flood risk: the planning system
How can planning help reduce flood risk?
The impact of flooding can be reduced by avoiding development in areas at risk from flooding.
Regional planning bodies and local planning authorities prepare Regional or Strategic Flood
Risk Assessments that identify land at risk of flooding from rivers, the sea and other sources.
This information is used to plan the location of development.
Local authorities sometimes allocate land in their plans, and developers seek sites for
housing and other developments in areas at risk of river and sea flooding. However they must
demonstrate that there are no alternative sites available in areas with a lower probability of
flooding, suitable for the type of development proposed.
The Environment Agency will normally object to development on the floodplain but there are
some circumstances when other planning considerations can outweigh flooding implications.
In these cases appropriate measures to reduce flood risk, including emergency
arrangements, are included in the design and implementation of the development. The local
planning authority is responsible for approving planning applications.
This photograph shows the east side of Tonbridge during the October 2000 floods. The
flooding was from a stream of the River Medway catchment. © Environment Agency.