Amendments to flood-risk advice proposed
Ministers have proposed limited amendments to current national spatial planning policy on development and flood risk.
The proposal relates to how the "functional" floodplain should be identified and has implications for essential critical infrastructure including water and sewage treatment works, base facilities for the emergency services, certain facilities requiring hazardous substances consent and wind turbines.
The existing good practice guide makes it clear that critical infrastructure such as electricity sub-stations and water treatment works that have to be in flood-risk areas should be designed to remain operational during floods.
Ministers now want wind turbines and water and sewage treatment facilities to be classified as "essential utility infrastructure" which can be allowed in flood-risk areas provided there are adequate measures to control pollution and manage sewage during flooding events.
In practice this means that such facilities need to be designed and constructed to remain operational and safe for use in at least a 1 in 200 annual probability flood event.
These amendments would mean that all new critical utility infrastructure would be treated in similar terms under Planning Policy Statement 25, which deals with flooding.
This would include port facilities for the storage of hazardous material including schemes involved in carbon capture and storage.
Roger Milne
13 August 2009
