Since last summer’s floods, various reports have indicated that flooding is likely to increase as a result of climate change.
Sir Michael Pitt was appointed to review the flood related emergencies and identify the issues and his interim report was published in December. The report states that flood risk management currently focuses on river and coastal flooding, yet two thirds of the floods last summer were caused by surface water.
The report recommends that local authorities be given responsibility for surface water drainage and sustainable drainage systems (eg green roofs, water butts and permeable pavements) and that homeowners should not be allowed to pave or cover their garden with non-porous material, such as cement, without obtaining planning permission. Many front gardens and driveways are, of course, laid over the drainage systems leading from our homes to the public drains.
The final report is due out in late summer – it will be interesting to see whether or not this planning requirement is incorporated. We suspect there may be one or two objections if it is!
In the meantime, a new planning policy statement has been issued requiring planning authorities to reduce the risk of flooding on new development sites by promoting the use of sustainable drainage systems. The policy even goes so far as to suggest that such drainage systems should be incorporated from the start into all planning applications on new developments and that this should be the norm rather than the exception.
As always, if you need commercial and pragmatic legal advice, we’re here to help so please get in touch.
Disclaimer: All legal information is correct at the time of publication but please be aware that laws may change over time. This article contains general legal information but should not be relied upon as legal advice. Please seek professional legal advice about your specific situation - contact us; we’d be delighted to help.
We previously reported on the new Charities Act 2022. The first wave of provisions in relation to charity land are now in force, with more expected to be in force…
The discovery of failing reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) in schools just before the beginning of term certainly caught the attention of the public and the media. The problem of…
Our real estate experts explain more about how electronic signatures are now considered legally binding from a property perspective. In our real estate department, we now regularly use a platform…
Our website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through our website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorised as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyse and understand how you use our website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies but it may affect your browsing experience on our website. You can find our cookie policy here.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for our website to function and enable core functionality such as security and accessibility. These cookies do not store any personal information. You can block these cookies by changing your browser settings, but this may affect how the website functions.
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Cookie
Duration
Description
__cf_bm
30 minutes
This cookie, set by Cloudflare, is used to support Cloudflare Bot Management.
mgref
1 year
This cookie is set by Eventbrite to deliver content tailored to the end user's interests and improve content creation. It is also used for event-booking purposes.
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Cookie
Duration
Description
_ga
2 years
The _ga cookie, installed by Google Analytics, calculates visitor, session and campaign data and also keeps track of site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookie stores information anonymously and assigns a randomly generated number to recognize unique visitors.
_gat
1 minute
This cookie is installed by Google Universal Analytics to restrain request rate and thus limit the collection of data on high traffic sites.
_gid
1 day
Installed by Google Analytics, _gid cookie stores information on how visitors use a website, while also creating an analytics report of the website's performance. Some of the data that are collected include the number of visitors, their source, and the pages they visit anonymously.
G
1 year
Cookie used to facilitate the translation into the preferred language of the visitor.
vuid
2 years
Vimeo installs this cookie to collect tracking information by setting a unique ID to embed videos to the website.
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.