Policy information sourced from City of London Local Plan

CS18: Flood Risk

To ensure that the City remains at low risk from all types of flooding, by:

  1. Minimising river flooding risk, requiring development in the City Flood Risk Area to seek opportunities to deliver a reduction in flood risk compared with the existing situation:
    • applying the sequential test and exception test as set out in the NPPF and Planning Practice Guidance and requiring Flood Risk Assessments to be submitted, in support of all planning applications in the City Flood Risk Area (Environment Agency Flood Zones 2 and 3 and surface water flood risk hotspots) and for major development proposals elsewhere;
    • protecting and enhancing existing flood defences along the riverside, particularly those identified as fair or poor in the current City of London SFRA. Development adjacent to the River Thames must be designed to allow for maintenance of flood defences.
  2. Reducing the risks of flooding from surface water throughout the City, ensuring that development proposals minimise water use and reduce demands on the combined surface water and sewerage network by applying the London Plan drainage hierarchy.
  3. Reducing rainwater run-off, through the use of suitable Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS), such as green roofs and rainwater attenuation measures throughout the City.
  4. Ensuring that wider flood defences afford the highest category of protection for the City, participating in the development and implementation of the Environment Agency’s Thames Estuary 2100 project.
  5. Reviewing and updating the City of London’s Strategic Flood Risk Assessment at least every 5 years or more frequently if circumstances require, to ensure that changes in flood risk are identified and suitable responses implemented.

For more information please see the Local Plan