Environment Agency call for new homes to be flood proof

The government’s chief environment advisor has recommended a new raft of regulations for homes built in areas prone to flooding.

Head of the Environment Agency (EA) James Bevan said that new housing should only be built on flood plains if it is immune to flooding.

In adavance of a speech today at the World Water-Tech Innovation summit in London, he warned that in light of increased risk of flooding due to climate change, “the best way to defuse the weather bomb is better protection and stronger resilience.”

Vast tracts of land in the UK are classed as a flood plain with one in ten new homes being built on sites at risk of flooding according to government data.

In an interview on BBC Radio 4 Bevan fell short of calling a ban on all developments in these regions but said that homes should only be built if “there is no real alternative” and with designs that are “flood-proof.”

Bevan’s recommendations include restricting the ground floor to garages, planting more trees, creating wetland habitats and restoring the natural course of rivers which have been artificially straightened.

The advice comes after unprecedented flooding across the UK caused by storms Ciara and Dennis, with more bad weather expected later this week. 

Water levels in Shrewsbury are set to reach an all-time high of 5.5m today, while the river Wye in Herefordshire has risen to its highest level since 1795.

This comes after industry experts yesterday waded into the debate on flood defences. RIBA director of policy Andrew Forth told Housing Today there was a “fundamental need for a complete re-evaluation of building regulations” in flood-prone areas.

He added: “We know how to build things that are resilient, that can be put back in to use rapidly after floods. Just building the same in flood risk areas as we build everywhere else isn’t going to get us sustainable homes built.”

In 2018 RIBA published a five-point list of recommendations for the government to reduce the impact of flooding, which Forth said the government has so far not implemented.

Likewise, Richard Coutts, government flood advisor and director of architect practice Baca recommended “robust” building regulations in high risk areas, including using resilient materials and placing electrical points above expected flood levels.

The EA is currently spending £2.6bn on new flood defences to protect 300,00 properties by 2021 along with £1bn on maintenance of existing defences.