dataset · England
Flood Map for Planning - Flood Zones
The Flood Map for Planning Service includes several layers of information. This includes the Flood Zones data which shows the extent of land at present day risk of flooding from rivers and the sea, ignoring the benefits of defences, for the following scenarios: • Flood Zone 1 – Land having a less than 0.1% (1 in 1000) annual probability of flooding. • Flood Zone 2 – Land having between 0.1% - 1% (1 in 100 to 1 in 1000) annual probability of flooding from rivers or between 0.1% - 0.5% (1 in 200 t
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Licence: ["There are no public access constraints to this data. Use of this data is subject to the licence identified.", "There are no public access constraints to this data. Use of this data is subject to the
Evidence quality: 57.2
Listed in data.gov.uk public catalogue API on 2026-10-16; relevance/value screened (haiku).
Metadata checked: 2026-10-14T13:20:00.000Z
What's in it
- Data offered docs-verified
- Flood Zone 2 polygons (river and sea) · Flood Zone 3 polygons (river and sea)
- Coverage docs-verified
- England
- Update frequency docs-verified
- asNeeded
- Formats docs-verified
- OGC API - Features · WFS · WMS · GeoPackage (ZIP) · GeoJSON (ZIP) · File Geodatabase (ZIP) · ArcGIS layer file (.lyr) · PDF (product description)
- Access docs-verified
- Free, open. Open Government Licence; no public access constraints. Attribution: © Environment Agency copyright and/or database right 2025.
Useful for
- Use cases llm-inferred
- Screen development sites against Flood Zones 2 and 3 to scope whether a Flood Risk Assessment is needed · Check whether a planning application requires the sequential or exception test based on flood zone · Build a river and sea flood extent layer for a catchment-scale GIS flood risk baseline
- Audience llm-inferred
- flood risk consultants · planning consultants · GIS analysts · hydrologists · local planning authority officers
Limitations
- Constraints docs-verified
- Indicative only; not suitable for showing whether an individual property is at risk of flooding · Ignores the benefits of flood defences · Flood Zone 1 is not included as polygons · Area-of-interest downloads return all intersecting polygons, which may extend beyond the area drawn · Composite of national and local modelled data plus recorded flood outlines, so the quality varies by area · Users must check the data is suitable for their intended use
Evidence
- https://environment.data.gov.uk/api/file/download?fileDataSetId=455d2eb3-3065-4d20-871b-c4d5dee23f67&fileName=Flood Zones Product Description.pdf
- https://www.data.gov.uk/dataset/104434b0-5263-4c90-9b1e-e43b1d57c750/flood-map-for-planning-flood-zones1
Check upstream coverage, uncertainty and licence before use. Station observations are not forecasts or design levels.