Planning policy and flood risk: The translation of national guidance into local policy

Scientists and policy-makers generally agree that the likelihood of flooding in the UK will increase as a result of climate change. It is also accepted that sensible land use and development planning plays an important role in the management of flood risk, while allowing necessary development to continue (Evans et al., 2004; Department of Communities and Local Government – DCLG, 2006a; Thorne et al., 2007). As the planning system operates on different spatial scales, it can be used to integrate flood risk management measures at the strategic planning scale and deliver these in practice at the individual site level (White & Howe, 2004; Richards, 2005). Indeed, it is worth noting that the planning system may actually be the most sustainable method to manage flood risk, in that not only can it provide for risk management, it can also avoid or even reduce risk, due to its ability to influence factors such as the location, type, design and function of development. Progress with regard to planning policy and practice has been made, but it is acknowledged that the rapidly evolving flood risk management policy framework may take time to effectively translate into the local planning practice arena (Richards, 2005; White 2005; White & Howe, 2005; Wynn, 2005). This implementation gap between policy and practice was also recently identified by the then planning minister, Keith Hill: