New Local Plan - Issues & Options (Regulation 18)

13. Flood Risk

13.1 While flood risk is a longstanding issue, climate change will increase the likelihood of extreme flood events occurring more frequently in the future, with the potential to affect residents, businesses, heritage and other assets across parts of the District. Planning has a key role to play in managing and reducing flood risk.

13.2 National planning policy is clear that inappropriate development in areas at risk of flooding should be avoided by directing development away from areas at highest risk. Where development is necessary in such areas, it needs to be made safe for its lifetime and not increase flood risk elsewhere.

13.3 An up-to-date Strategic Flood Risk Assessment (SFRA) plays a key role in ensuring that the risk of flooding is taken into account in the preparation of strategic policies, including the location of development and the allocation of sites for development. Given that current SFRA dates from 2017, a new assessment will be undertaken to map and identify sources of flooding across the District. With early engagement of the Environment Agency (EA) and the County Council as the Lead Local Flood Authority (LLFA), this new assessment will take account of:

• significant changes to planning policy over the intervening period, particularly relating to calculating the risk of flooding due to climate change
• requirements set out in Planning Practice Guidance and the Environment Agency SFRA guidance, including Climate Change Allowances
• latest EA models for the District, including for the Welland catchment (published in 2018).

13.4 On completion, the SFRA will be a key piece of evidence in site selection work, allowing the application of a sequential, risk-based approach to the location of development to avoid, where possible, flood risk to people and property. The aim of the sequential test is to steer new development to areas with the lowest risk of flooding from any source.

13.5 Alongside the site selection work, a policy relating to managing flood risk in the District will be developed which takes account of up-to-date national policy and local evidence. In addition, the current commitment to the use of sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) will be retained as part of the new Local Plan. Their potential for providing an effective way of both managing surface water while contributing to biodiversity net gain, through the creation of diverse habitats for wildlife, will be highlighted.

Flood risk