Select committee: Environmental Audit Committee
Recommendation 24
4th Report – Flood resilience in England
Published 13 Oct 2025
Environmental Audit Committee Flood resilience in England All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
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
From: Environmental Audit Committee, 4th Report – Flood resilience in England (HC 550), 13 October 2025
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 23 December 2025 (deadline 13 December 2025).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government says it shares the committee's view on the importance of flood resilience, agrees with some recommendations, and in some cases notes or considers them rather than accepting them, while declining to formalise the Flood Resilience Taskforce's role.
- On resilience standards, the government "notes" the recommendation and "will consider this as part of our existing commitment to explore a long-term target", with "a further statement next year".
- It does not agree to formalise the Flood Resilience Taskforce's role, saying this "would complicate the responsibilities and accountabilities".
- On making SuDS mandatory, it does not commit to commencing Schedule 3, saying improvement "could be achieved" by other means and it "will decide on which course of action to pursue in due course".
- On a statutory duty for Fire and Rescue Services to respond to flooding, it is "assessing the case", with the work "planned to conclude in summer 2026".