The Planning System and Flood Risk Management - Offaly County ...

• Incorporate a strategic level flood risk assessment, ideally integratedinto the existing SEA process that will now apply to the preparation offuture Regional Planning Guidelines;27• Identify strategic flood risk and spatial planning issues for the areacovered by the RPGs;• Set out a policy framework for development plans and local area plansof planning authorities to address the flood risk issues arising at aregional level; and• Outline, with due consideration of the national flood risk assessmentand management planning programme, any further requirements forflood risk assessments and/or studies.4.3 Regional authorities should work closely with other agencies, such as theOPW, DAFF, DEHLG, local authorities and other agencies, in addressing thespatial planning implications of flooding at the regional level.Regional level flood risk assessment and SEA4.4 Flood risk assessment within the RPG process should be strategic in nature(i.e. bearing in mind that more detailed assessments will be carried out whendevelopment plans and LAPs are being prepared) and ideally should be anintegral part of the SEA process. It will generally comprise the screening andscoping stages outlined in paragraph 2.21 and Appendix A. The Departmentof the Environment, Heritage and Local Government will, in the context ofthe next round of RPGs, give advice to regional authorities in undertakingstrategic level flood risk assessment.4.5 Screening and scoping of the SEA will normally include flooding as one ofthe many environmental issues for the region, drawing upon existing publishedsources of information such as those identified in Appendix A. At a regionallevel, the screening exercise should provide sufficient information to scopeany further strategic flood risk assessment, if required, and any necessaryspatial policies on flood risk. Information on how these differing levels offlood risk assessments are undertaken and relevant sources of informationare contained in Appendix A.Principles for the region4.6 Having prepared a screening assessment and, if necessary, a strategic floodrisk assessment, RPGs should then identify broad development principlesand objectives for the region to deal with any flood issues arising from theassessment/s. Planning authorities will then have to ensure that theirdevelopment plans are consistent with RPG principles and objectives.Co-ordination of development plans4.7 Given the nature of flood risk, it is likely that more than one planning authoritywill be affected by, for example, coastal or river flooding affecting an extensivePlanning Guidelines