Flood Map for Planning: Flood Risk Zones for Wales with Climate Change Projections

Welsh flood risk zones for planning, showing undefended flood extents from rivers, the sea, and surface water over the next century. The map incorporates climate change allowances and indicates areas at risk from coastal erosion, past flooding, and flood defence infrastructure. It is produced by the Government Digital Service and is intended to replace the Development Advice Map for planning purposes from June 2023.

Use Cases

• Assess development suitability based on projected flood risk zones for rivers, sea, and surface water.
• Model long-term climate change impacts on flood extents for infrastructure planning.
• Identify historical flood areas and coastal erosion risks mentioned in the description.
• Inform land-use policy and emergency planning based on the location of flood defence infrastructure.

Strengths

• Includes climate change projections for flood risk over the next century.
• Defines specific annual probability thresholds for flooding (e.g., 1% for rivers, 0.5% for sea).
• Distinguishes between basic and detailed views, separating flood risk by source in the detailed view.

Limitations

• Row count and column-level documentation are unknown; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.
• The description notes the map currently has no official status for planning purposes.

Provenance

Source

Government Digital Service

Collection Method

Likely generated from hydrological and coastal modelling.

Time Range

Projections cover the next century.

Freshness

Last updated date is unknown.

Geography

Wales