Flood risk management and funding
This briefing paper provides an overview of flood and coastal risk management in the UK, including which bodies manage risk, current policy on flood risk management, and how flood funding works.
The Government published the final version of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPFF) on 27 March 2012. It replaced almost all planning guidance immediately, although planning authorities have twelve months in which to get their plans adopted.
National Planning Policy Framework (168KB PDF)
• On 27 March 2012, DCLG published the final version of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPFF). It came into effect immediately, superseding the 2011 draft and all other planning guidance (except on waste).
• Local Planning Authorities have twelve months to revise their plans to take account of the NPPF.
• This note covers the presumption in favour of sustainable development. Topics such as housing, wind farms, the countryside, the green belt and so on are covered in separate notes.
• Critics, led by the National Trust and the Campaign to Protect Rural England, accused the draft document of handing over too much power to developers, reducing protection for rural England.
• However, they are more satisfied with the final version of the NPPF.
• Supporters of the NPPF welcome the radical simplification of planning guidance and argue that it contains the necessary safeguards, without restricting needed investment.
National Planning Policy Framework (168KB PDF)
This briefing paper provides an overview of flood and coastal risk management in the UK, including which bodies manage risk, current policy on flood risk management, and how flood funding works.
On 18 June 2026 the Department for Transport (DfT) published the draft Heathrow Expansion National Policy Statement (HENPS), which provides a framework for how expansion might be implemented.
The Heritage Public Houses Bill 2026-27 is a private members bill (ballot bill) introduced by Mike Wood MP (Con). The bill will have its second reading on 16 October 2026.