Changes should be made to England’s planning system to ensure new homes are not worsening the issue of flooding, a Norfolk MP and former British Army head have said.
In a jointly-written letter to levelling up secretary Michael Gove, Mid Norfolk MP George Freeman and General Lord Richard Dannatt outline a mini manifesto of policy changes, which they say would allow more effective action on the issue.
Lord Dannatt is chairman of the Norfolk Strategic Flood Alliance - a body of councils and agencies collaborating to tackle the problem - while Mr Freeman has been hosting a similar forum within his constituency, through his Mid Norfolk Flood Partnership.
In a jointly-penned letter, the pair have suggested reforms in three areas - including to stop developers doing only “the bare minimum” to ensure new housing estates have adequate drainage and complement the existing water infrastructure.
They suggest that an emphasis be placed in the forthcoming planning bill to put “legacy responsibilities” on developers.
The letter reads: “If there were penalties (financial or otherwise), then we would see developers paying far greater consideration of these issues at the planning stages – incentivising them to do a much better job, and significantly reducing the problems that are currently being seen down the line.
“It’s wrong that, frequently, local authorities and the taxpayer are forced to foot the bill of shoddy planning by developers.”
Speaking on Tuesday, Lord Dannatt said the intention of the reform would be “to save ourselves from ourselves”.
He said: “There has to be a balance struck between the requirement for more houses, and the absolute requirement not to put them in places where the occupants of those houses are going to be subject to flooding.
“Or, probably even more importantly, other occupants of houses that already exist in the neighbourhood, don’t become adversely affected because of the new housing.”
The other suggested changes are increased enforcement powers for lead local flood authorities - in the case of Norfolk, the county council - and closer consideration given to the funding received by those authorities.
In a message on his website, Mr Freeman said: “I very much hope to be able to arrange a direct conversation between the secretary of state, Lord Dannatt and I in the coming weeks so that we can take him through our suggestions in greater detail.”
Lord Dannatt’s fight against flooding in Norfolk
Several parts of the county were badly flooded in Christmas 2020 and in the weeks that followed, Lord Dannatt was appointed to chair the Norfolk Strategic Flooding Alliance (NSFA) - a new body seeking to foster collaboration on the issue between the county’s councils, Anglian Water, Environment Agency and others.
In the year since its establishment, the alliance has formally adopted an overall strategy.
In October 2021, it held its first test run, called Exercise TEMPESTAS, which examined how members will work together to respond to a major flooding incident.
The alliance last year devised mitigation plans for the 16 most at risk locations in Norfolk - with plans this year being developed in another 15 locations.
It has also created a phone number to give the county’s residents one point of contact to report flooding: 0344 800 8013.
“I have to ask people to be patient,” said Lord Dannatt.
“You can’t solve these problems at the stroke of a pen, but a lot of people are working hard to make sure that Norfolk is a safer place to live in, from a flooding point of view, over years to come.”
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