The Planning and Infrastructure Bill had its second reading in the House of Commons this week, with the Bill set to provide a legislative vehicle for delivery of the Government’s housebuilding programme (1.5 million homes by the end of the Parliament). Introduced by the Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, the Bill’s overall objective is to speed up planning decisions to deliver housing growth and accelerate the roll out of Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NISPs).  

Covering five main sections - infrastructure, planning, development and nature recovery, development corporations, and compulsory purchase – the Bill builds on Government working papers that preceded its introduction to Parliament. Whilst relatively detailed on some areas of environmental stewardship, such as nature recovery, there is disappointment at the Bill’s failure to mention flood risk management. As Ellie Chowns MP articulated during Monday’s debate, “it is quite extraordinary that in 160 pages there is not a single mention of the words flood or flooding, yet they are crucial to planning and infrastructure”.  

There is a clear need for amendments to the Bill that place a greater emphasis on flood risk management, especially considering that the legislation promises regular updates to the National Planning Policy Framework. In particular, we would like to see the Sequential and Exception Tests placed on a statutory footing, implementation of Schedule 3 of the Flood and Water Management Act, and a mechanism to mandate the use of Property Flood Resilience measures in all new homes. You can find our detailed recommendations on flood risk management in the Westminster Sustainable Business Forum’s recent report, Bricks and Water: flood and coastal erosion risk management policy for a new Government.