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A bill to Make provision about the consideration of flooding risk in the planning process; to make internal drainage boards statutory consultees for certain planning decisions; and for connected purposes.

Be it enacted by the King’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—

1 Internal Drainage Boards: requirement to consult¶

(1) In Schedule 4 of the Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order 2015 (“the 2015 Order”), after paragraph (zf) insert—

(zg) Any development in or close to an area managed by an Internal Drainage Board.

The relevant Internal Drainage Board.

(2) The Secretary of State may not by regulations amend paragraph (zg) of the 2015 Order so as to remove the requirement to consult an Internal Drainage Board, other than to replace that requirement with a requirement to consult a different body with local expertise in flood management.

2 Presumption against development: flooding risk¶

(1) Where a local planning authority in England has received representations from—

(a) the lead local flood authority,

(b) the Environment Agency, or

that proposed new development would increase the risk of flooding for existing buildings, the local planning authority must not grant permission for the proposed new development.

(2) Where a local planning authority does not comply with subsection (1), the Secretary of State must direct that the application be referred to them under section 77 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (reference of applications to Secretary of State).

(3) The Secretary of State must take into account any decision referred to them under subsection (2) when making an assessment of the quality of decision making by a local planning authority for the purposes of determining whether that local planning authority should be designated under section 62A of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (when application may be made directly to Secretary of State).

(4) The Secretary of State may by regulations make provision that is consequential on this section.

3 Sustainable drainage infrastructure: guidance on reduction of flood risk¶

(1) Within six months of the passing of this Bill, the Secretary of State must publish guidance for local planning authorities in England on—

(a) minimum standards for drainage infrastructure in proposed new developments, and

(b) minimum maintenance standards for drainage infrastructure

for the purpose of reducing flood risk arising from new development.

(2) The guidance under this section must be prepared by a panel of experts appointed for that purpose by the Secretary of State.

(3) The guidance may be updated from time to time but must be updated not more than five years after the publication of the previous guidance.

(4) Where appropriate, the guidance may set different standards for different cases.

(5) A local planning authority in England must have regard to the guidance when considering any application for development.

(6) Where a local planning authority has granted permission for development which complies with the standards set out in the guidance, but a developer has failed to properly install or maintain drainage infrastructure in accordance with that guidance, the planning authority may—

(a) reject future applications for development from that developer,

(b) reject future applications for development by individuals or entities directly associated with this developer.

(7) The local authority must publish a list of developers who have failed to properly install or maintain drainage infrastructure in accordance with the guidance.

(8) The Secretary of State may by regulations make provision that is consequential on this section.

4 Regulations¶

(1) Regulations under this Act are to be made by statutory instrument.

(2) Regulations under this Act may modify any enactment.

(3) A statutory instrument containing regulations under this Act may not be made unless a draft of the instrument has been laid before and approved by a resolution of each House of Parliament.

5 Extent, commencement and short title¶

(1) This Act extends to England and Wales.

(2) This Act comes into force at the end of the period of three months beginning with the day on which it is passed.

(3) This Act may be cited as the Planning (Flooding) Act 2025.