Flood Defences and Defended Area

The river and coastal flood plains illustrated within the Strategic Flood Map are the ‘undefended’ flood plains.  In other words, they are based on the assumption that all of the existing flood defence systems are absent.  This approach is consistent with the government’s  Planning Policy Statement 15 (PPS15) – Planning and Flood Risk.  PPS15 recognises that flood defences cannot entirely eliminate the risk of flooding and as a consequence of this residual risk it adopts a precautionary by placing stringent restrictions on proposed development within defended areas.  

The Flood Defence/ Defended Area Map identifies the location of the existing flood defence systems and illustrates the area behind each of the defences which benefit from a reduction in the likelihood of flooding as a consequence of their presence.