Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, Labour)
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Question 272: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the steps that have been taken by his Department to develop planning and development guidelines in relation to flooding for local authorities to consider when drawing up County Development Plans. [2934/08]

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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The First Schedule of the Planning and Development Act 2000 specifies, inter alia, that planning authorities may include in their development plans objectives regulating, restricting or controlling development in areas at risk of flooding. Where development is proposed in an area at risk of flooding, it is a matter for each planning authority to evaluate such risk, on the basis of a flood risk assessment where appropriate, and planning permission may either be refused, or, if granted, can be made subject to conditions requiring the implementation of measures necessary to alleviate or avoid damage due to flooding.

Guidelines for Planning Authorities on Development Plans were published by my Department in June 2007 to further assist planning authorities in the preparation of development plans. The guidelines recommend that flood risk should be considered at relevant stages of the planning and development process and the aim should be to ensure that existing flood risks are either reduced or addressed and that new development does not individually or cumulatively give rise to new flood risks, particularly in the context of potential impacts arising from climate change.

My Department, in conjunction with the OPW, is preparing more comprehensive guidance on flooding and the planning system, which it is intended to issue for public consultation and finalisation this year. Preparation of these guidelines, and the mapping resources already available to planning authorities on the OPW National Flood Hazard Mapping website at www.floodmap.ie, are two of the key actions arising from the work of the Flood Policy Review Group.