Planning and flood risk

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Background

Flooding from rivers is a natural process that plays an important role in shaping the natural environment. Flooding can also occur from periods of heavy rain where the sewers and other drainage infrastructure are overwhelmed. Flooding from any source can threaten life and cause substantial damage to property. Although flooding cannot be wholly prevented, its impacts can be reduced through good planning and management.

Planning for flood risk exists to make sure that future development is of a safe and sustainable nature. Responsibility for the management of flood risk is spread across a number of bodies, with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) having the overall policy responsibility for flood risk in England.  The roles of the key parties are:

• Landowners have the primary responsibility for draining their land and managing the flood risk issues associated with their property.
• Regional and local Planning authorities are responsible for assessing flood risk. The Council has prepared a strategic flood risk assessment (SFRA) that does this.
• Local Planning Authorities have to consult the Environment Agency and are responsible for ensuring that developers assess flood risk for their development proposals. The Council does this through the Development Control process.
• The Environment Agency has statutory responsibility for flood management and defence and along with Local Authorities for the maintenance, operation and improving of flood defences.
• Sewerage undertakers are responsible for any sewers adopted under the requirements of the Water Industry Act 1991. In this borough Thames Water manage the network of sewers.

Best practice case studies

Place	Description of works	Photograph	Further Details
Kingston Hospital	Green Roof and maintenance plan		Case Study Kingston Hospital
Hogsmill Sewage Works	Improving Flood Risk and Biodiversity		Case Study Hogsmill Sewage Works
Chessington Nurseries	Water Storage and Recycling		Case Study Chessington Nurseries
Guildhall Annex	Planting Plan for Green Roof		Case Study Guildhall Annex
Reevethorpe Garage	Planning for Safe Egress		Case Study Reevethorpe Garage
Bishops Palace House	Use of Sustainable Urban Drainage		Case Study Bishops Palace House

Policies

Planning policy ensures that inappropriate new developments are prevented in flood risk areas and that any proposed development is directed away from areas that are at higher risk. Planning Policy Statement 25: Development and Flood Risk (PPS 25) was published in December 2006 and provides Local Planning Authorities with advice on how to manage flood risk. PPS25 promotes a strategic approach that emphasises the need to consider flood risk as early as possible in the planning process and provides clear guidance on the need to include Flood Risk Assessments at all stages of the planning process.

Local Planning Authorities must take account of PPS25 when any development or regeneration is considered in areas recognised as posing a flood risk. Flood risk areas are identified in the RBK Strategic Flood Risk Assessment.

The Strategic Flood Risk Assessment for the borough as a whole was completed and published in December 2008.

Current Unitary Development Plan (UDP) policies addressing flooding and water resources are OL18 and OL19. These policies identify development that would not normally be allowed in areas liable to flooding and indicate how development should incorporate sustainable urban drainage systems to bring about a reduction in flood risk. The UDP policies will be superseded by flood risk reduction policies in the Core Strategy, which is currently being produced as part of the Local Development Framework, and which will take into account the Strategic Flood Risk Assessment and PPS25.

The above examples show how developments can reduce net flood risk. The following file provides examples of planning applications which utilised the Kingston SFRA to good effect, achieving planning permission.