Flood Map for Planning to be updated with new NaFRA data in spring 2025

The Environment Agency has said it will update its flood map for planning service in spring 2025, adding climate change effects on river and sea flood risk, mapping that accounts for existing defences, and surface water flood risk for the first time¹. The change follows a new National Flood Risk Assessment (NaFRA), the first full update since 2018, which for the first time accounts for the latest UK Climate Projections (UKCP18)¹.

The agency said the new NaFRA data would be published in early 2025 on its check your long term flood risk service and on data.gov.uk, with detailed local mapping made available through GOV.UK digital services from early 2025¹. The new assessment puts around 6.3 million properties in England in areas at risk of flooding from rivers, the sea, surface water or a combination, a figure that could rise to around 8 million by mid-century with climate change¹. Around 2.4 million properties are in areas at risk from rivers and the sea, and 367,900 in areas at high risk from those sources, an 88% increase on the previous assessment¹. Of those at high risk, 163,300 are likely to flood to depths of 30cm or higher, and 87,500 to depths of 60cm or higher¹.

The agency said the better modelling in the new NaFRA provides a 2 metre resolution, against 50 metres for the current Risk of Flooding from Rivers and Sea maps¹. It said the assessment does not include groundwater flooding because there are too many gaps in understanding and evidence for groundwater flood risk at this time, and that NaFRA was not developed or tested for insurance underwriting or setting insurance premiums¹.

Why it matters for households

The planning service is used to inform planning authorities, and the agency says NaFRA is designed to inform planning authorities and emergency responders as well as provide publicly available flood risk information¹. For households, the practical change is in the public flood risk information available: the new data appears on the check your long term flood risk service from early 2025, and the planning map follows in spring 2025¹. The agency states that NaFRA was not developed or tested for insurance underwriting or setting premiums, and that insurers use their own underwriting methods and may combine NaFRA-derived information with other data¹. The assessment covers England¹.

The agency reports wide regional variations in flood risk, and says the detailed local mapping will help customers understand what the new information means for them¹. It also reports that around a third of roads (38%) and around a third of railways (37%) are in areas at risk from one or more sources of flooding, rising to 46% and 54% respectively by mid-century under climate change projections¹.

What happens next

The agency said it will publish the new NaFRA data on check your long term flood risk and on data.gov.uk in early 2025, and update the flood map for planning service in spring 2025¹. It said it is committed to a rolling programme of data improvements and is developing a new flood and coastal investment programme using the new NaFRA and the updated National Coastal Erosion Risk Map¹.

Households can check their home's risk using the guide to checking your home's flood risk by postcode, and the guide to types of flooding explains the sources covered, including why groundwater is not part of this assessment. The guide to flood defences and alleviation schemes covers how defences are counted, and home insurance in a flood risk area and Flood Re sets out how insurance works separately from these maps. For warnings, see flood alerts, flood warnings and severe flood warnings.