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.

The new legislation has far more emphasis on assessing flooding impact both now and in the future. This will directly impact the content of our Flood Risk Assessments which will now have to respond directly to these heightened criteria.

Get in touch to see how our team can help you navigate this new guidance in relation to your developments.

Technical Director, Land, Development and Communities Group

Dean Swann

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Senior Hydrologist

Katherine Peers

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Group Director for Land, Development and Communities

Lee Witts

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