AC-2025-LON-000036 - [2025] EWHC 2701 (Admin)

The Applicant contends that the Inspector erred in concluding that the Site was at significant risk of flooding. He contends that the Inspector ought to have accepted the Appellant’s contrary evidence which coincided with the Flood Map for Planning produced by the Environment Agency.

The Inspector made it clear in paragraph 33 of the Decision Letter that he understood the policy context. He acknowledged that the Flood Map for Planning compiled by the Environment Agency showed the residential part of the Site as being in Flood Zone 1 and noted the Council’s assertion that it was in Flood Zone 3. The Inspector went on to note that the surface water flooding maps made it clear that there was a high risk of flooding, and concluded that those maps were more accurate than the Flood Map for Planning because “they use a more up to date digital terrain model, which is more likely to accurately reflect actual ground levels today than when they were first used for flood mapping”: He also noted that an email from the Environment Agency confirmed that position. He therefore did not consider the Flood Map for Planning as being determinative of the issues, which is a decision that he was properly able to make. Having set out why he did not consider the Flood Map for Planning as determinative, the Inspector went on to consider the further evidence including the Council’s evidence that the Site had in fact flooded on a number of occasions, and the Applicant’s evidence to the contrary. He plainly took that evidence into account as he had concluded that he could not attribute “significant weight” to that evidence, because it had not been reviewed by the Environment Agency and because it contained a number of deficiencies.

Ground 1 is therefore not arguable. The Inspector took into account the Applicant’s evidence and rejected that evidence for clear and logical reasons. While the Applicant disagrees with the Inspector’s determination that does not mean that he could not come to the conclusions he did.