The Flood and Water Management Bill was published on the 19th November 2009 and laid in parliament. The Government response to pre-legislative scrutiny and public consultation on the draft Bill and EU Floods Directive regulations have also been laid in Parliament. The Bill will be entering the Committee stage in the House of Commons in January 2010.

The Flood and Water Management Bill aims to provide better, more sustainable management of flood risk for people, homes and businesses, help safeguard community groups from unaffordable rises in surface water drainage charges and protect water supplies to the consumer. This Bill is intended to implement recommendations made by Sir Michael Pitt in his review of the 2007 floods.

The latest copy of the Bill is available from the Parliament website with details on the progress of the Bill.

You can also download the Command Paper Taking forward the draft Flood and Water Management Bill: The Government response to pre-legislative scrutiny and public consultation.

The Flood Risk Regulations 2009 have now come into force. Its purpose is to transpose the EC Floods Directive (Directive 2007/60/EC on the assessment and management of flood risks) into domestic law and to implement its provisions. In particular, it places duties on the Environment Agency and local authorities to prepare flood risk assessments, flood risk maps and flood risk management plans.

It was previously intended to transpose the EC Floods Directive through the Flood and Management Water Bill but, these regulations are consistent with the Bill and provide a more pragmatic way forward for the timely transposition of the directive.

The intention is to consolidate the transposing regulations with the relevant provisions from the Flood and Water Management Bill and appropriate existing legislation as soon as possible. This would achieve a single coherent set of provisions dealing with flood risk assessment and management. Click here to find our more.

The RTPI responded to the Defra consultation on the Flood and Water Management Bill in July 2009. You can download our response here.

Please contact the Policy team if you would like to contribute your views.

Author:

Rebecca Coates

Publisher:

The Royal Town Planning Institute

Date:

19-Nov-09

Categories:

Nations & Regions, Networks & Associations, Policy 

Sections:

News & Media

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