Research to assess the management of risk to floodplain developments.

Tender description

The ASC has a statutory duty to report to Parliament with an independent assessment of the UK Government's progress in implementing its National Adaptation Programme. This programme, published in July 2013, sets out the Government's objectives and policies for adaptation primarily in England, addressing the risks and opportunities identified by the UK Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA), first published in January 2012. The ASC published an Evidence Report to inform the second CCRA in July 2016, with the key findings subsequently presented by the government to Parliament in January 2017. In 2015, the ASC produced its first statutory assessment of the National Adaptation Programme, followed by a second assessment in June 2017. These reports consider what actions are being taken to adapt to the current and future impacts of climate change across a number of sectors, and how vulnerability to climate hazards is changing over time. The 2017 report highlighted that whilst National Planning Policy steers development away from flood risk areas, development in areas with more than a 1% annual chance of river and coastal flooding has increased and there is the potential for 90,000 new homes to be built between 2015 and 2020 in these areas. The Environment Agency is a statutory consultee on planning applications in areas at risk of river and coastal flooding. According to the Environment Agency guidelines, measures should be in place to manage the risk to these developments, including measures to ensure that developments are "resilient and resistant" to river and coastal flooding. The number of planning applications approved despite EA objections remains low. However, it is not known if the Environment Agency is consulted on all the planning applications it ought to be, and whether the planning application specifications regarding fluvial and coastal flooding are subsequently always implemented on the ground. ** Please see Specification **