Natural flood management
Natural flood management refers to: ‘Managing flood and coastal erosion risk by protecting, restoring and emulating the natural ‘regulating’ function of catchments, rivers, floodplains and coasts.’ Ref The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) Annex 2: Glossary, published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) in 2012.
The National Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategy for England, Glossary, published by the Environment Agency in 2020, defines natural flood management (NFM) as: ‘The use of natural processes to reduce the risk of flooding or coastal change. For example by; restoring bends in rivers, changing the way land is managed so soil can absorb more water and creating saltmarshes on the coast to absorb wave energy. It is one of the nature based solutions which can be used in conjunction with more traditional engineering techniques.’
The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government in 2021, defined Natural Flood Management as: ‘managing flood and coastal erosion risk by protecting, restoring and emulating the natural ‘regulating’ function of catchments, rivers, floodplains and coasts.’
This definition was repeated in the revised NPPF in 2024.
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