National Planning Policy Framework, Chapter 18: Managing flood risk and coastal change (F1–9)
This is Chapter 18 of the National Planning Policy Framework.
Applies to England
The objective of the policies in this chapter of the National Planning Policy Framework is to minimise risks to development arising from all sources of flooding and coastal change, taking into account the impacts of climate change, by steering development away from areas of risk, ensuring that development will be safe for its lifetime without increasing flood risk elsewhere, and incorporating sustainable drainage systems where appropriate.
Plan-making policies
F1: Assessing flood risk for plan-making
1. In order to manage development in ways which minimise the risk of flooding to people and property, development plans should:
a. Be informed by an up-to-date strategic flood risk assessment which considers current and future flood risk from all sources, including cumulative impacts in, or affecting, areas susceptible to flooding; and
b. Take account of advice from the Environment Agency and other relevant flood risk management authorities, such as Lead Local Flood Authorities and internal drainage boards, about levels of risk, options for mitigation, and the implications for development in the plan area.
F2: Planning for effective flood risk management
1. Development plans should take a risk-based approach when identifying suitable locations for development, taking into account all sources of flood risk and the current and future impacts of climate change. They should do this, and manage any residual risk, by:
a. Applying the sequential test in policy F5 and, where relevant, policy F6;
b. Safeguarding land that is, or is likely to be, required for current or future flood management;
c. Using opportunities provided by new development and improvements in green and other infrastructure to reduce the causes and impacts of flooding (making as much use as possible of natural flood management techniques as part of an integrated approach to flood risk management); and
d. Where climate change is expected to increase flood risk so that some existing development may not be sustainable in the long-term, seeking opportunities to relocate development, including housing, to more sustainable locations.
F3: Managing coastal change
1. Development plans should take into account relevant Shoreline Management Plans, the National Coastal Erosion Risk Map, the UK Marine Policy Statement and relevant marine plans in assessing the risks arising from coastal change and appropriate approaches to coastal management. Integrated Coastal Zone Management should be pursued across local authority and land/sea boundaries, to ensure effective alignment of the terrestrial and marine planning regimes.
2. Inappropriate development in vulnerable coastal areas should be avoided when identifying suitable locations for development, so that risks arising from coastal change are not exacerbated. In order to do this development plans should:
a. Identify as a Coastal Change Management Area any area likely to be affected by physical changes to the coast, estuaries or tidal rivers, over the next century;
b. Set out what types of development will be appropriate in the Coastal Change Management Area, and in what circumstances, taking into account the safeguards in policy F9 and local conditions;
c. Safeguard land that is, or is likely to be, required for current or future coastal change risk management, including managed realignment; and
d. Reduce risks by making provision for development and infrastructure which needs to be relocated away from Coastal Change Management Areas.
National decision-making policies
F4: Assessing flood risk for decision-making
1. To inform the assessment of flood risk and, where relevant, appropriate mitigation, a site-specific flood risk assessment should accompany all development proposals in Flood Zones 2, 3a, and 3b as defined in Annex F, table 1.
2. In Flood Zone 1, a site-specific flood risk assessment should inform and accompany all development proposals involving:
a. Sites of one hectare or more;
b. Land which has been identified by the Environment Agency as having critical drainage problems; and
c. Land identified in a strategic flood risk assessment or the Flood Map for Planning[footnote 55] as being at risk of flooding from any source, whether now or in the future.
3. Site-specific flood risk assessments should be appropriate to the scale, nature, and location of development and should, where relevant, support an assessment of whether a development proposal satisfies the sequential and exception tests set out in policies F5 and F6.
F5: The sequential test
1. The aim of the sequential test is to steer new development to areas with the lowest risk of flooding from any source. Where the test applies, development proposals should not be located in areas at risk of flooding where alternative sites, appropriate for the development, are reasonably available in areas with a lower risk of flooding. The area to which the test is applied should not be greater than the anticipated catchment of the development in terms of its likely occupiers or users.
2. The sequential test should be used in areas known to be at risk now or in the future from any form of flooding, other than for:
a. Sites allocated in the development plan which were subject to the sequential test during plan preparation;
b. Sites where a site-specific flood risk assessment demonstrates clearly that:
i. No built development within the site boundary, including access or escape routes, land raising or other potentially vulnerable elements, would be located on an area that would be at risk of flooding from any source, now and in the future (having regard to potential changes in flood risk); or
ii. Where the site would be at risk of surface water flooding only, the proposed layout, design, and mitigation measures would ensure that occupiers and users would remain safe from current and future surface water flood risk for the lifetime of the development without increasing flood risk elsewhere in accordance with policy F7.
c. For the following types of development:
i. Householder development;
ii. Small non-residential extensions (with a footprint of less than 250m2); and
iii. Changes of use, other than changes of use to a caravan, camping or chalet site, or to a mobile home or park home site.
3. The strategic flood risk assessment covering the area of the proposed development and the Flood Map for Planning should provide the evidential basis for applying the sequential test.
F6: Development in areas at risk of flooding from rivers or the sea
1. In areas falling within flood zones 2, 3a, or 3b (as defined in Annex F, table 1):
a. Development proposals should be refused if the use is incompatible with the risk from river or sea flooding, as set out in Annex F, table 3; and
b. In certain other circumstances set out in Annex F, table 3, in addition to satisfying the sequential test in policy F5 where applicable, development will only be appropriate where an ‘exception test’ is satisfied. The exception test involves demonstrating that the development would meet all the following criteria:
i. Provide wider sustainability benefits to the community that outweigh the flood risk;
ii. Be safe for its anticipated lifetime in accordance with policy F7; and
iii. Not increase flood risk elsewhere and, where possible, reduce flood risk overall.
2. The application of the exception test should be informed by a site-specific flood risk assessment[footnote 56]. The exception test does not need to be applied:
a. To those forms of development, or in those circumstances, where the sequential test is not required, as set out in policy F5; or
b. Where development is proposed on a site allocated in the development plan to which the exception test was applied at the plan-making stage, unless there has been a significant increase in the risk of flooding to the site subsequently, or the nature of the development itself has changed significantly from that which was allocated so as to introduce a more vulnerable use (having regard to Annex F, table 2).
F7: Ensuring development is safe from flooding
1. Development proposals should not present a risk from flooding to potential occupiers, users, or visitors, and should not increase flood risk elsewhere.
2. Where development is proposed in a location known to be at risk from any form of flooding, now or in the future, it should be refused unless:
a. Within the site, the most vulnerable development is located in areas of lowest flood risk, unless there are overriding reasons which justify a different arrangement;
b. The development will be safe throughout its lifetime taking account of the vulnerability of its users;
c. Any residual risk can be safely managed, and safe access and escape routes are included where appropriate, as part of an agreed emergency plan;
d. The development is appropriately flood resistant and resilient such that, in the event of a flood, it could be quickly brought back into use without significant refurbishment; and
e. It can be demonstrated that flood risk will not be increased elsewhere.
F8: Sustainable drainage systems and watercourses
1. Development proposals which could affect drainage on or around the development site should incorporate sustainable drainage systems to control flow rates and reduce volumes of runoff, in ways which are proportionate to the nature and scale of the proposal. The systems employed should provide multifunctional benefits where possible, facilitating improvements in water quality, biodiversity and amenity.
2. Sustainable Drainage Systems should:
a. Be designed in accordance with the National Standards for Sustainable Drainage Systems[footnote 57];
b. Have maintenance arrangements in place to ensure an acceptable standard of operation for the anticipated lifetime of the development; and
c. In the case of proposals for major development, take account of advice from the Lead Local Flood Authority.
3. Development proposals should not enclose existing watercourses where this is not already the case, unless there are compelling reasons to do so; and should where possible remove existing culverts and renaturalise existing river channels, unless to do so would increase flood risk, result in other environmental harm or cause harm to heritage assets.
F9: Development in Coastal Change Management Areas
1. Development should not take place within a Coastal Change Management Area (or within other areas likely to be subject to coastal erosion or tidal inundation over the next century, accounting for the National Coastal Erosion Risk Map and other up-to-date evidence on coastal change and its management) unless it can be demonstrated that it would:
a. Be safe over its planned lifetime;
b. Reflect the provisions of the relevant Shoreline Management Plan and not have an unacceptable impact on coastal change processes; and
c. Provide wider sustainability benefits which justify the development.
2. Where development proposals meet these requirements, time-limited permissions and site-restoration conditions should be used where appropriate.
3. New residential development (including through changes of use) is inappropriate within an area to which this policy applies, unless it satisfies the tests set out at paragraph 1(a) to 1(c) in this policy.
This is Chapter 18 of the National Planning Policy Framework
Continue to Chapter 19: Conserving and enhancing the natural environment (N1–6).
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Footnotes
55. Flood Map for Planning published in: Flood map for planning. ↩
56. For the purpose of policy F2, when the exception test is being applied at the plan-making stage, it should be informed instead by an up-to-date strategic flood risk assessment. ↩
57. National Standards for Sustainable Drainage Systems published in: National standards for sustainable drainage systems (SuDS). ↩