To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps his Department is taking through the planning system to encourage rainwater harvesting in (a) domestic, (b) commercial and (c) industrial buildings.

Bob Neill (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Communities and Local Government; Bromley and Chislehurst, Conservative)

In line with our reforms to simplify the planning system, the draft National Planning Policy Framework, which we consulted on last year, streamlines existing national planning policy into a consolidated and clearer set of priorities to consider when planning for sustainable development.

In doing so the draft framework sets out specific requirements only where necessary, for example, to avoid and manage risks from flooding.

In this respect, the draft framework proposes that new development in flood risk areas should give priority to the use of sustainable drainage systems (which can, where appropriate, include rainwater harvesting).

1 would also refer my hon. Friend to the answer given by the Under-Secretary of State, Andrew Stunell, to my right hon. Friend Nicholas Soames, on 17 January 2012, Hansard, columns 632-33W, on the issue of rainwater harvesting.