Housing: Construction

(asked on 1st March 2022) - View Source

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make it his policy to introduce legal responsibility for housing developers to ensure that all newly built homes are adequately protected from flooding.


Answered by
Stuart Andrew Portrait
Stuart Andrew
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
This question was answered on 9th March 2022

The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) is clear that inappropriate development in areas at risk of flooding should be avoided. Where development is necessary, it should be made safe and resilient - and without increasing flood risk elsewhere. Policies in the NPPF must be taken into account in preparing the local authority's development plan, and are a material consideration in planning decisions.

In addition, statutory guidance to the Building Regulations in Approved Document C already promotes the use of flood resilient and resistant construction in flood prone areas.

The Building Regulations also set requirements for the rainwater and surface water drainage of individual buildings under Part H of the Regulations. Ultimately it is the responsibility of the sewerage undertaker for an area, for example Yorkshire Water, to ensure drainage systems for new developments are built to a resilient standard which minimises flooding.

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