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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will commission a review of the planning permission regime for areas at risk of flooding.

National planning policy on managing flood risk was last updated in 2018, and provides a robust framework for making decisions that take flood risk fully into account. It makes clear that inappropriate development in areas at current or future risk of flooding should be avoided and directs development towards areas at least risk. Where development is necessary in such areas, and where there are no suitable sites available in areas with a lower risk of flooding, it should be made safe without increasing flood risk elsewhere and be appropriately flood resistant and resilient. It is primarily the responsibility of local planning authorities to determine applications for planning permission, having weighed up all the material planning considerations – including advice received from flood risk management bodies.