Planning Applications and Flood Risk, published in February 2025, outlines that 61 out of 5,848 approved residential applications throughout Northern Ireland in 2023/2024 are within an area of fluvial and/or tidal flood risk.

 

Decisions on residential planning applications and flooding risk are assessed under the Strategic Planning Policy Statement (SPPS) and Planning Policy Statement 15: Planning and Flood Risk (PPS15). Reasons applications within flood risk areas were approved include:

• it is an ‘exception’ under SPPS and PPS15, such as the replacement of an existing building;

• it was balanced against other factors, such as restoration of a historic listed building;

• part of the site is in a flood risk area but the dwelling itself is not; and

• a request for an FRA or drainage assessment was not made at outline planning stage when the applications was approved, later requests to revisit this cannot be granted.

 

Additionally, divergence between flood modelling methods used by the Department for Infrastructure’s (DfI) Rivers Directorate and FRAs, and planning authorities can result in the approval of applications within flood risk areas.

 

Read the full article by agendaNi here.