We are concerned that new housing continues to be built in areas of high flood risk without adequate mitigations. Although the Agency is a statutory consultee for planning applications, it does not have powers in the planning process to prevent any development on flood plains without mitigation. The Agency told us that 99% of new homes’ planning applications complied with the Agency advice. The problem is that the Agency only examines a proportion of planning applications to build in a flood ...

We are concerned that new housing continues to be built in areas of high flood risk without adequate mitigations. Although the Agency is a statutory consultee for planning applications, it does not have powers in the planning process to prevent any development on flood plains without mitigation. The Agency told us that 99% of new homes’ planning applications complied with the Agency advice. The problem is that the Agency only examines a proportion of planning applications to build in a flood plain due to its own lack of resources. But over half of Local Planning Authorities said they rarely or never inspected a new development to check compli Type: conclusion | Number: 7 | Response status: accepted Government response: The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. inappropriate development in areas at risk of flooding should be avoided by directing development away from areas at highest risk, including floodplains. Where development needs to be in locations where there i