Land raising within flood plains

Land raising, which involves permanently elevating a site to an acceptable level above the flood plain in order to facilitate development will not be acceptable within the fluvial flood plain, where displacement of flood water would be likely to cause flooding elsewhere. Such operations within the coastal flood plain will have a negligible effect on its extent and therefore much less likely to cause flooding elsewhere. Land raising to facilitate development at an appropriate level above the coastal flood plain may therefore be possible. However, this should normally be restricted to settlements and proposals will need to satisfy normal planning criteria such as access, service provision and acceptable visual and amenity impacts. Importantly, such development should not generate a present or future need for flood defences nor should it exacerbate problems of coastal erosion in susceptible areas.