by Amanda Ramsay
One in four UK homes is estimated to currently be at risk of flooding, with an average of £60,000 worth of damage inflicted per home when floods hit hardest. I learned this while contributing to a parliamentary roundtable this summer, hosted by Shadow Minister for Flooding, Oceans and Coastal Communities Emma Hardy MP (Kingston-Upon-Hull West) in partnership with Aviva the insurance company.
Representatives from national bodies involved in planning, flooding, adaptation to climate change, plus cross-party parliamentarians, myself as a researcher, and insurance experts convened to discuss how deficiencies in planning rules could be tackled to help the UK build sustainably for the future.
The roundtable was strategically organised to attempt to influence the parliamentary scrutiny stages of the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act (LURA), hence forth called The Act.
The Act has changed the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) with the introduction of National Development Management Plans (NDMPs). These new instruments have a statutory footing and must be adhered to alongside local development plans, since The Act received Royal Assent in October. While the NPPF will remain focussed on plan-making principles and requirements, NDMPs will outweigh Local Plan policies in the event of conflict. This is important because NDMPs will take precedence over both local and neighbourhood plans (where they conflict with national policy).
Back in July, there was much agreement at the parliamentary roundtable that the then proposed reforms needed to be strengthened by amending the scope of NDMPs.
One emerging theme was the need to have legislative protections so as to build homes fit for a changing future, in terms of climate change in the UK, including storms and flooding. We need national minimum requirements for flood mitigation and protection measures baked into new builds.
Despite horrific scenes witnessed on news coverage, tens of thousands of houses are still being built in high flood-risk areas. Many more are being built without the necessary flood protections, sometimes against the advice of the Environment Agency.
Many social inclusion issues are at stake here, not least because people most likely to live on a flood plain are the most socially deprived.
Sustainable drainage systems (SuDs) are vital, it was pointed out by attendee Ruth Jones MP (Newport West), Shadow Minister for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Also, of note was that storm water needs to be managed locally (as close to its source as possible), to mimic natural drainage and encourage its infiltration.
It was decided to send a joint lobbying letter to the Planning Minister, at the Department for Levelling-up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC). The consensus being that planning rules be tightened to prevent new developments going ahead in current and future flood-risk areas. Where development elsewhere is not possible, planning should be subject to enforceable conditions around flood mitigation and resilience at area and property level.
This, we pointed out, would require additional government investment though, for local planning authorities (LPAs) to be able to afford enforcement.
A consensus emerged during our Westminster discussion around the need to align planning rules with the UK’s legally binding Net Zero and Environmental targets, to consider carbon assessments, and take account of nature both in terms of adaptation and mitigation. However, none of these recommendations were adopted by the Government.
What was approved by the House of Lords was an amendment to the then Bill, to prohibit LPAs from granting planning permission for residential buildings on a floodplain (Flood Zones 3a and 3b). Ultimately, this was defeated by the Government though in the Commons so did not make it into the final Act of Parliament. But the amendment can be seen as helpful in raising the issue strongly and could give a platform to influencing future consultations.
Critics of The Act see LURA as a missed opportunity. One reason being that the new legislation fails to confirm and clarify a Net-Zero duty in plan-making nor extend it to decision-making. Without this statutory change, there remains a risk of plans, policies and decisions paying no more than lip service to tackling climate change or continue to be challenged and overturned on appeal.
It is also argued that central government can now issue its own planning policies through NDMPs to be used in plan-making decisions by local authorities in England without sufficient scrutiny. A far cry from the espoused decentralising philosophy of the Conservative-led Coalition’s Localism Act (2011) NDMPs represent a distinct move to centralisation. National government will be able to impose top-down planning policies on local communities.
This makes NDMPs quite controversial as whilst there must be advance consultation, the Secretary of State’s powers to bring in NDMPs are relatively untouchable. The Government will conduct a consultation on these new NDMPs and there will then be a governmental response. This will cover what they should include, existing NPPF guidance (on flooding, greenbelt etc.) and which new areas should be added (i.e. Net Zero). Early political debate has revealed an appetite that they cover issues like floodplain development, resilience and to align planning rules with the UK’s Net Zero strategy. This consultation process could provide an opportunity to push for improved rules.
