Flood zones explained and what they mean for your property plans

There are three main flood zones in the UK, which are outlined below.

• Flood Zone 1: Lowest risk
  Flood Zone 1 areas have less than a 1 in 1000 chance of experiencing flooding. There are not many restrictions for a flood zone 1 property, and you are likely to secure planning permission without too much hassle. However, if your property is over 1 hectare, you must still have a flood risk assessment.
• Flood Zone 2: Medium risk
  In Flood Zone 2, there’s a medium-level risk of flooding. This means river flooding could occur every 100 years and sea flooding every 200 years. It’s likely that architectural designs in Flood Zone 2 could get planning permission, but only if flood resilience measures are added to the plans.
• Flood Zones 3a and 3b: High risk (flood plains)
  To add some complexity, Flood Zone 3 encompasses two categories: 3a and 3b. What you really want to know if you’re categorised with Flood Zone 3 is whether you can get planning permission on a flood plain.
  If the land is categorised as 3a, it may be possible to develop or build property on that land with a comprehensive Flood Risk Assessment (FRA) and planning details. However, if the property or land is given the 3b category, this makes it very difficult to secure planning permission. Not sure? Contact the team at Ashfield Solutions and we can advise.

How do you know which flood zone you’re in?

Ashfield Solutions can do some quick preliminary checks to determine which flood zone category applies to your property or land and advise on next steps, such as whether you need a flood risk assessment or not.

There are three main types of flooding: fluvial (rivers), pluvial (surface water) and coastal. The prognosis for flooding is that all three types are increasing due to a number of factors. This includes rising sea levels from climate change, more intense storms and urbanisation which makes the ground less porous. A flood risk report flags which type of flooding your property could be affected by, as well as highlighting the potential severity.

What areas of the UK have a high flood risk?

Properties near the coast, rivers or even brooks and streams can be more vulnerable to flooding. Interestingly, the West side of the UK gets more rain than the East, but that’s not a hard and fast rule. After all, Gateshead in the North East is one of the rainiest locations in the UK, making it more susceptible to surface water flooding. Likewise Lincolnshire, in the East Midlands is projected to see the biggest hike in flooding incidents over the next 50 years.

The below chart showcases the projected increase in flood risk in the UK from 1950 to 2050. We’ve selected the top 20 locations, with Lincolnshire, Greater London and Wales predicted to see the biggest increase in flooding. Other areas that feature in the top 50 include Worcestershire, Inverness and Cornwall.

Information sourced from an article published in the Independent: Revealed: The 50 areas in the UK most likely to perish because of climate change.

What areas of the UK are least likely to flood?

Places with a lower flood risk, due to lower rainfall and less intense storms, include the following:

• Guildford
• Southend-on-Sea
• Woking
• Reading

How to find flood risk of a property?

With so many data sources and organisations available to find flood data for an area of land or property, it can be difficult to know where to start.

You could go straight to a reputable source, such as the Gov.UK website. However, even their flood risk checks are not all-encompassing. For instance, you can’t find out if a single property is liable for flooding or if flooding has occurred due to blocked drains. There are also different organisations that tackle flood risk in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Ashfield can quickly source all the flood risk information you need

That’s where getting support from trusted consultants can help. With specialists operating across flood risk, we can leverage our contacts and resources to confidently determine whether your property or land is at risk of flooding and what the possible next steps would be. If you’re looking to secure planning for your land or for a client, this should be your first port of call before you even draw up any plans.

That’s because if the property is situated in a flood zone, you may need to make adjustments or risk your plans being refused by the local planning authority.

It can be helpful to know that planning authorities must consult with the Environment Agency, and that’s where Ashfield’s working relationships with the right contacts, both at the council and the Environment Agency, can help you get the answers you need sooner.

We also support homebuyers, giving them the confidence to make an informed decision on whether to proceed with a purchase based on comprehensive flood risk data—we did exactly that for a property buyer in the East Midlands, who subsequently decided not to follow through on the purchase based on our findings.

The flood risk consultants at Ashfield Solutions can advise on potential adjustments that could help you secure planning if flooding is a potential problem. This could include adding details of how you’ll incorporate sustainable drainage into your land or around your property. Contact our trustworthy team today to get advice on flood risk and acquire a comprehensive Flood Risk Assessment.

We support current homeowners and regularly provide flood risk reports when buying a house.