Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

Recent experience has highlighted the need to develop a deeper understanding of flood risk, how we manage and reduce that risk and how we deal with the effects of significant flood events. A sound planning approach is central in avoiding and reducing flood risk by integrating the consideration of flooding potential into the planning process, first, through the spatial planning process at regional, city and county and local levels, and also in the assessment of development proposals by planning authorities and An Bord Pleanála.

The recent flooding events sharply illustrate the questionable nature of some development decisions in the past and underline the necessity for action to avoid such developments in locations in which future flooding is predictable. In this regard, the guidelines for planning authorities on the planning system and flood risk management, which were jointly published by the Minister, Deputy John Gormley, and the Minister of State, Deputy Martin Mansergh, last November, introduce a more consistent, rigorous and systematic approach to flood risk identification, assessment and management within the planning system. These guidelines provide, inter alia, that development in areas at risk of flooding, particularly flood plains, should be avoided unless there are wider sustainability grounds that justify appropriate development and where the risk can be reduced or managed to an acceptable level.

The guidelines require the planning system at national, regional and local levels to avoid development in areas at risk of flooding, particularly in flood plains, unless there are proven wider sustainability grounds that justify appropriate development and where the flood risk can be reduced or managed to an acceptable level without increasing flood risk elsewhere; adopt a sequential approach to flood risk management when assessing the location for new development based on avoidance, reduction and mitigation of flood risk; and incorporate flood risk assessment into the process of making decisions on planning applications and planning appeals. It is likely that some lands will have been zoned for development in existing or previous plans without the benefit of a detailed flood risk assessment in accordance with these guidelines and in the absence of detailed flood risk mapping, which is now being carried out by the OPW. Where a review of a development or local area plan shows that there may be a flood risk on certain zoned lands, such zonings must be reconsidered.

The guidelines define a flood plain as any low-lying area of land next to a river or stream that is susceptible to partial or complete inundation by water during a flood event. While strict application of this definition to the land on which the Waterways estate in Sallins was built may be a matter of interpretation, the fact remains that a development that otherwise complied with proper planning and sustainable development was inundated by water following unprecedented recent rainfall. The Minister understands that, in conjunction with Irish Rail, Waterways Ireland and the OPW, Kildare County Council has identified the scope of remedial works necessary to minimise the likelihood of recurrence of flooding in this area. These works are ongoing and should be completed in the coming weeks.

It is important that planning authorities and all other key stakeholders apply the principles and practices for flood risk identification, assessment and management within the planning system in line with the guidelines. In the context of the Minister's statutory role in the planning process, he will continue to assess development and local area plans to monitor implementation of these principles at local level to ensure that future development takes account of these policies.

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