Policy information sourced from Enfield Development Managament Document (DMD)

DMD 63 Protection and Improvement of Watercourses and Flood Defences

  • New development must make space for water and not harm the integrity of flood defences. New development should:
    • Be set back from main rivers and ordinary watercourses, in the case of the former, maintain a minimum 8 metre buffer strip, which should be free of development and naturalised where feasible;
    • Maintain an adequate distance between new development and ordinary watercourses. The distance applied will be determined by having regard to the nature of the development and the type of ordinary watercourse;
    • Adopt a presumption in favour of the removal, where possible, of existing culverts; and
    • Not involve the culverting of main rivers and ordinary watercourses.
  • Development on any land required for current and future flood management, which would adversely affect the delivery of flood defence schemes, will be refused.
  • Development on or adjacent to watercourses must not:
    • Result in deterioration in a watercourse; or
    • Prevent its ability to achieve the objectives in the Thames River Basin Management Plan (TRBMP); and
    • Where possible, it should also implement the mitigation measures identified in the RBMP.

A Water Framework Directive assessment will be required for some works on or adjacent to a watercourse. In these cases, the developer will need to contact the Environment Agency and provide information to demonstrate that the above requirements (2a-c) are met or, to otherwise justify the development.

This Policy should be read in conjunction with Core Strategy policies 28 and 29.

For more information please see the Development Managament Document (DMD)