Updates to the National Planning Guidance for Flood Risk and Coastal Change

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government updated the National Planning Guidance for Flood Risk and Coastal Change on 25th August 2022. The document has been comprehensively re-written and contains a series of changes to the flood considerations for development, with the primary focus on the impact of climate change for all types of flooding.

Under the new guidance:

• A sequential test will need to be undertaken on all risk of flooding categories (fluvial, surface water, groundwater and reservoir) that impacts the site.
• When undertaking a sequential test, flood defenses can no longer be used as a method of removing the flood risk from a development site.
• Five year land supply issues are specifically mentioned as a reason not to be considered for the non-application of the sequential test.