Recommendation 24

The planning system in its current form is not keeping pace with the modern realities of flooding but is instead building risk into the landscape. We recognise the need for new homes, but development should not be permitted in areas known to be at high risk of flooding. Such building undermines resilience, burdens households and public services, and drives escalating costs. Prevention is far more effective and cheaper than recovery. Planning policy, and especially the National Planning Policy Framework, must give flood risk greater weight and must treat flood risk as a strategic constraint, directing development to safer areas and embedding long-term resilience. (Conclusion, Paragraph 88) 63