A Guardian analysis has shown that over 100,000 new homes will be built on the highest-risk flood zones in England in the next five years as part of the government’s push for 1.5m extra properties by the end of this parliament.
Building on areas with the highest risk of serious flooding is supposed to be discouraged. Experts say development should be avoided unless absolutely necessary because there is a significant chance of regular deluges, which will flood the properties, cause hundreds of millions of pounds of economic damage and make homes uninsurable.
But a push for housing growth by the prime minister, Keir Starmer, and the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, means tens of thousands of new homes will be built in areas at the highest risk of serious flooding unless the government intervenes, according to trends in the latest data.
Richard Dawson, professor of earth systems engineering at Newcastle University and a member of the climate change adaptation committee, told the Guardian that every year new homes were being built in high flood risk areas at a constant rate.
In 2020-21 and 2021-22, 7% of new properties were built on the highest-risk flood plain, known as zone 3, according to the Climate Change Committee’s most recent progress report.
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If the trend continues at the current rate, about 105,000 new homes will be built on flood zone 3 by the end of this parliament.
“Analysis shows the trend has been steady, and there is no recent new policy designed to address this,” said Dawson. “If the trend continues then one might expect more than 100,000 houses to be built on the highest-risk flood plains if the government achieves its 1.5m target.”
The revelations come as the government announced an extra £250m, on top of the £2.4bn previously promised, to shore up flood defences and protect an extra 66,500 properties.
But increased development on flood regions places more pressure on communities. Insurance experts have called for no more new homes to be built on flood plains, and some flood risk consultants have cautioned that Labour’s housing targets might not be achievable because they will come up against the harsh reality of flooding induced by climate breakdown.
Jason Storah, CEO of UK & Ireland general insurance at Aviva, said the number of new homes being built on flood plains should be prevented from increasing.
Story was adapted from the Guardian.
