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Planning consideration

Flood risk zones

Areas at risk from flooding from rivers or the sea

Design stage
On the platform
Tags

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Github
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Synonyms
No synonyms added
Legislation
No legislation added
Expected number of records
Unknown
Frequency of updates
Quarterly
Useful links
Technical specification
No specification added

Background information

Each planning consideration we work on passes through the stages of our design process, where we research and answer specific questions to help us collect more information.

Backlog

  • Who asked for 'Flood risk zones' data?

    Open Systems Lab - Planning Software, specifically as constraint in PlanX

  • What is the driver for the request?

    Specific user requirement

  • Which 2024 focus area does the request support?

Screen

  • What is the 'Flood risk zones' consideration?

    A flood risk zone is an area categorised based on the probability of river or sea flooding, being zones 1 (lowest probability), 2, and 3a and 3b (highest probability).

  • Is there legislation that defines 'Flood risk zones'?

    Yes

    • What is the legislation that defines 'Flood risk zones'?

      There is no legislation that defines flood risk zones into 1, 2 and 3, but there is legislation that states that flood risk areas must be identified in section 13 of the flood risk regulation 2009.

      " The Environment Agency must— determine in relation to each river basin district whether, in its opinion, there is a significant flood risk from— the sea, main rivers, and reservoirs, and identify the part of the river basin district affected by that risk (the “flood risk area”)."

    • What is the specific part of the legislation that describes how a 'Flood risk zones' gets designated?

      Part 2 of The Flood Risk Regulations 2009 outlines "Preliminary flood risk assessments", and is broken down into: * Preliminary assessment maps * Preliminary assessment reports * Publication * Review

      The legislation does not dictate how flood risk areas are split up into zones 1, 2 and 3.

    • What is the specific part of the legislation that requires the publication of 'Flood risk zones'?

      Regulation 22 of The Flood Risk Regulations 2009 states that "The Environment Agency must publish the flood hazard maps and flood risk maps prepared by the Agency and the lead local flood authorities for each river basin district."

  • Who, in law, is responsible for the planning consideration or makes decisions about 'Flood risk zones'?

  • Which organisations do we think should publish the data?

  • Is the Flood risk zones a trigger?

  • Is the Flood risk zones something to consult during plan making?

  • Is there any Flood risk zones data already available?

    Yes

  • Do we think the data should come from a single source?

    Yes - this data is available from the Environment Agency nationally.

  • Will a data standard be required?

    No

Research

  • Do we understand the lifecycle of a Flood risk zones?

  • Do we understand how the data is created/produced?

    In the metadata for the data it states that "The Flood Zones are created using local flood model outputs, recorded flood outlines and national flood model information. These are combined to generate extents of land at flood risk, with the aim of using the best available flood risk information in any one location."

  • Where will or should the data be used?

    This data should be used to make decisions about land use and infrastructure development. Flood risk zones also inform strategic flood risk assessments (SFRAs), which have an impact on local plans from a management perspective.

    • Local plans - Flood risk zones are referenced a number of times in local plans, so we think that this consideration feeds into the process of creating a local plan.

  • Who are the statutory consultees for Flood risk zones?

  • Other than the statutory consultees who are the primary users of Flood risk zones? How do we expect them to use Flood risk zones?

  • What are the planning needs for this data?

  • Who are the types of users who might benefit from having access to Flood risk zones data?

  • What are some potential uses of Flood risk zones data?

  • What's the value of adding Flood risk zones data to the platform?

  • From what we have learnt so far are there any risks to making Flood risk zones data available?

3 updates

  • Kieran Wint (08 April 2025)

    In the metadata for the new "Flood Zones" dataset, it is stated that the aim is to publish the data every three months, meaning the update frequency being marked as quarterly continues to be correct.

  • Kieran Wint (04 September 2024)

    As per some research we did, summarised in this blog on an analysis of local plans and local area requirements, we're confident that this consideration acts as an INPUT to the process of creating a local plan.

  • Kieran Wint (03 September 2024)

    The metadata in the 'risk of flooding from rivers and sea' dataset published on data.gov.uk by the Environment Agency states that the frequency with which the dataset is updated is quarterly. However, this quarterly update has been paused and further information can be found on the update guidance.

Last updated: 2025-09-11 10:15:35