Housing decisions ignore flood risk

14/07/11

By Beth Edmonston

The Government has been warned that planning decisions across Britain are not paying enough attention to the dangers posed by climate change.

Building houses in flood-prone areas and paving over land is increasing the risk of flooding in future, said ministers' advisers on the Committee on Climate Change.

It said Britain is already close to the limit in coping in areas including ensuring water supplies, and it warned that climate change could push things over the edge.

It warned that a lack of consideration of the potential problems climate change could bring is putting the country at increased risk of more flooding, droughts and heatwaves.

Up to 16,000 homes a year over the past decade have been built in areas that were already deemed to be at a high risk of flooding, though those numbers have decreased since large parts of the country were hit by devastating floods in 2007.

Committee chairman Lord John Krebs said although measures that have been taken to protect homes from flooding does offset the risks faced by properties built in flood-prone areas, that could mean there is a continuing high-cost cycle of flood defence maintenance.