Guide to clarify flood-proof planning

A new guide published this week is to help planners in creating flood-proof development by deciphering the contents of the new PPS25, the Government's policy statement on planning and flood risk.


The draft guide will act as a consultation testing how well the PPS25 (Planning Policy Statement 25: Development and Flood Risk), published in December 2006, works in practice.

Lords minister for planning Baroness Andrews said: “This Practice Guide will be central to the successful delivery of the new PPS25. Recent extreme weather conditions have shown how vital it is that strategic plans taking flood risk into account become a core part of the planning process.

“Consulting on the guide will also provide an opportunity to further develop effective tools to make PPS25 policy work in practice, particularly by improving flood risk assessment at all levels of the planning system. Key stakeholders have already made clear the value of such a guide and I look forward to hearing further views”.

Last December, the Environment Agency said that developers are still ignoring its advice on flood-proof flooding and have allowed 10 major developments to go through in 2004-5 against the Agency’s advice as it warned of high flood risk (see related story).

In its annual planning and flood risk report, the EA found that 95% of local planning authorities were heeding flood-related advice but that a minority were still pushing unsafe developments through and “putting lives at risk.”

Further details on the PPS25 can be found here.

Goska Romanowicz

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